


Equations

by AisforAnon



Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awesome Math and Science, Bars and Pubs, Brief mention of self-esteem issues, Canonical Child Abuse, Communication Failure, Couch Cuddles, Drinking & Talking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Friendship/Love, M/M, Multi, Past Child Abuse, more like fluff then smut then angst then a sigh of relief, not in that order
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:14:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28188255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AisforAnon/pseuds/AisforAnon
Summary: Zeetha:By the wayGil and Tarvek aretogether.Thought you would want to know.They’re really looking forward to seeing you.Agatha stared at the words, disbelieving.Agatha:Wait.What!?They are???Zeetha:Of course they areYou've been gone fourmonths, what did youthink would happen?Gil's been such a mopeypain missing you.Tarvek too.Or: Agatha just spent four months on a research fellowship.  She's finally on her way home.  Turns out a few things have changed while she was away.  And, Agatha's left wondering how her absence will change her relationship with her best friends.
Relationships: Agatha Heterodyne/Gilgamesh "Gil" Wulfenbach, Agatha Heterodyne/Tarvek Sturmvoraus, Agatha Heterodyne/Tarvek Sturmvoraus/Gilgamesh "Gil" Wulfenbach, Tarvek Sturmvoraus/Gilgamesh "Gil" Wulfenbach
Comments: 28
Kudos: 16





	1. The Priors

**Author's Note:**

> Oof, I spent all night dickering over whether this chapter should be a prologue or an epilogue, as it has a different point of view (Gil's) than the main story (Agatha's).
> 
> I've decided: f**k it. I'm gonna risk posting it as the prologue.
> 
> So, here ya go!
> 
> NOTE: This fic has four parts. It will update approximately -- depending on your time zone -- Sat(today)/Sun(tomorrow)/Tu/Th (the non-comic days).   
> The tags will be updated as the story updates and details about the tags are provided in the "Explanations & Spoilers" chapter. Give them a look over if you want to know what you're in for!

It started with a scream.

Gil shot out of bed, on his feet and through his door before he was truly awake. 

Six steps down the short hall.

Left turn.

Shoulder open the door, bursting through the faulty latch.

A heavy thud.

Gil skidded to a halt only just managing to avoid falling over the body.

<>

Tarvek lay in a heap on the floor, legs tangled in blankets, panting hard.His own screams had evidently woken him from his nightmare — _this_ time.

“ _Tarvek_ ,” Gil gasped, breathing hard more from shock than exertion.

Unseeing eyes fixed on him.

Unseeing and… _desolate_.

Boneless and struggling with rising nausea, Gil sank onto the floor beside Tarvek.His heart was pounding, and he felt a sick ache in the joints of his shoulders that Gil always associated with the descent from a sharp burst of adrenaline. 

He fumbled on the dresser for Tarvek’s phone.

03:48.

_Fuck._

They sat in silence. 

Tarvek shuddered occasionally, face buried in his hands.Evidently warding off ghosts Gil could neither see nor fight. 

Gil breathed — only breathed — slow and deep.

He did not touch Tarvek. 

He _wanted_ to. 

Wished he could offer a hug, curl around Tarvek and protect him from the horrors that lurked in his sleeping mind.

But, it hadn’t taken more than a half-dozen nights like this back at the Academy for Gil to learn that Tarvek did not like to be touched so soon after a nightmare.Perhaps it was because his childhood had been nearly bereft of positive physical contact.While his mind knew Gil was safe, Tarvek’s body forgot.

So Gil sat, just outside the mess of blankets.Simply _being_ there.

_“He dreams of them.His mother, father and sister.He saw all of them die, Gil.He watched her kill them…”_

Gil started out of the macabre reverie. 

He’d never asked Tarvek about his nightmares. 

Tarvek had never explained.

_“He watched her kill them both.And, he was there as she died.”_

It had been years before Gil had gotten up the nerve to ask Tarvek’s tiny, fierce cousin about the screams and the pleading words he heard in the moments before Tarvek woke. 

_“‘Nevka was the only person who loved him growing up.He adored her.”_

_“Was she…Did she…?”Gil hadn’t been able to put words around the awful question._

_“No.She was devoted to him.Always patient.Gentle.He followed her everywhere.It’s… it’s why he’s so twisted up inside.”_

And, Gil had thought his own family was a mess.

<>

Beside him Tarvek shifted, sniffing softly as he shuffled out of the tangle of blankets. 

That was his cue. 

Gil got to his feet and made his way to the living room, turning on lamps as he went.He found the remote.The television snapped to life.A few more clicks, and the opening bars of a documentary drifted quietly into the room.

_Step one._

Gil imagined the light chasing away the ghosts, music filling the silence, a mellow, dignified voice replacing the sound of screams.

In the kitchen, he put the kettle on.He fetched down mugs and the box of tea.Tarvek would be there, waiting when it was done. 

Like clockwork, Gil heard the shuffle of footsteps as soon as he poured the steaming water.When he came in, Tarvek was huddled against one side of the couch, arms wrapped around a small mountain of blankets. 

He offered a mug.

_Step two._

Gil imagined the liquid warmth beating back cold terror, peppermint calming a bilious stomach, lavender soothing an overwrought mind.

He settled himself on the other end of their couch, dragging an ottoman over with one foot.He winced at the feeling of cold fabric against his back and wrapped his hands tightly around his mug.The apartment was chilly, a sleeping temperature, not one suited to his thin pants and absent shirt.He suppressed a shiver. 

But, they had a ritual for managing nights like this.And, Gil wasn’t about to disturb it for a sweatshirt.His own comfort wasn’t worth that.

Resigned, he sipped the hot tea and made believe he was warm.

Tarvek’s hand entered his field of vision to press a blanket into his lap.

<>

The sonorous voice of the narrator droned on, deep and rich in Gil’s ears.His belly was warm.Their mugs sat empty, first and second cups brewed and drunk.All that was visible of Tarvek beneath his blankets was a shock of hair, a long nose and slowly blinking eyes. 

Without a sound, Tarvek swayed sideways.He caught himself on a little gasp, and grumbling quietly curled up on his side, head pillowed on the arm of the couch and toes wedged behind Gil’s back.

_Step three._

Gil imagined dreams of jungle birds and steaming cloud forests, filled with the sounds of hooting monkeys.

Carefully, Gil set a hand on Tarvek’s quilt-covered knee.When he didn’t twitch away Gil twisted and, fumbling slightly, gathered up Tarvek’s legs and arranged them over his lap. 

Smiling, he tucked the blankets more firmly around them both.

<>

When Gil woke for the second time that morning, he was back in his bed.He’d left Tarvek sleeping peacefully on their couch just before 05:00.It was a blessing that he almost never suffered two nightmares in one night.

He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.Tiredness made his eyes itch and his bones feel like jelly.Gil cursed his body’s inability to sleep much past sunrise.Angrily, he pulled a pillow over his face, determined to try for another couple hours of sleep. 

Gil was just starting to doze when a soft tapping on the door startled him awake.The pillow fell off his head and tumbled onto the floor.Gil growled in frustration and leaned over to snatch at it.

A wild floof of red hair preceded Tarvek as he came in balancing two cups.He brought a wave of rich coffee scent with him, making Gil groan.

“The hell are you doing up this early?” he croaked.“I usually have to drag _your Majesty_ out of bed in the morning.”

“Mmm, good morning to you, too.”Tarvek plumped himself down on the edge of Gil’s bed without ceremony.“I made coffee,” he offered, stating the obvious and shoved a mug at Gil.

Gil raised an eyebrow. _Really?_

Tarvek rolled his eyes.“I’m still waking up.”

“Which brings us back to my question,” Gil prodded, trying to sit up and drink his coffee simultaneously.He fumbled and barely managed to avoid sending a wave of hot liquid onto his sheets.He desisted.Scalding himself was the last thing he needed on a morning like this.

“Just want to get into lab early, that’s all.”Tarvek shrugged, trying for nonchalance. 

Gil knew better.“Try again,” he snorted, raising _both_ brows and staring at Tarvek. 

The redhead’s cheeks went pink.“She’s coming home today,” he muttered, trying and failing to hide his words in his cup.

Gil took pity on him and refrained from mentioning Tarvek’s blush.

“You still coming out tonight?”

Even in the dim, early morning light Gil could make out dark purple smears under Tarvek’s eyes.Gil’s sister had put together a big to-do at their usual pub to welcome Agatha home.But a late night of drinking was rough on a body running on just a few hours sleep.

That fact didn’t stop Tarvek glaring at him.He sniffed disdainfully and didn’t answer, as though Gil’s question did not deserve a reply.

“Forget I asked,” Gil said, raising one hand in mock-surrender.“But, I’m _not_ carrying you home.”

<>

Gil really was _tired_ , but thankfully it didn’t take long for the coffee to work its magic.He was dressed for the gym, packed and making sandwiches when Tarvek joined him wearing tights and a sweatshirt.His long hair was piled up in an amusing little bun on top of his head.

It _was_ predicable.Running was the best therapy Tarvek had yet found.He often couldn’t handle the gym — the noises, the smells and the people — after a disturbed night.So he ran.Alone.Gil didn’t mind running, but he preferred to get in his cardio by cycling or martial arts.Plus, Tarvek seemed to prefer his solitude.

Gil warred with himself all the way to the gym, uncomfortable — as he always was — about leaving Tarvek to manage on his own.And yet, there was always the risk that any action on his part would seem interfering. 

Still, he worried.Worried about the way Tarvek rarely let people in.Worried about the way he almost never accepted help.Worried about the mental and emotional toll of bottling up his feelings and allowing them to fester.

Growling Gil reached for his phone and pulled up Violetta’s contact card.He shifted from foot to foot as his finger hovered over the ‘text’ button, hardly aware that he was blocking the stairs into the university fitness center and paying no attention to the dirty looks he received from those forced to detour around him. 

_Oh well.The road to hell was paved with good intentions…_

He opened a chat and texted Violetta.

 **Gil:  
** He’s going running.

To his relief, her reply was almost instantaneous.

**Violetta:  
** Bad?

Gil hem’ed and haw’ed for a moment before typing one word.

**Gil:  
** Maybe?

Again, her response was swift.

**Violetta:  
** I’m on it.

Sighing with relief and shoving aside the fact that he might be in for a tongue-lashing later, Gil settled in to focus on his own exercise. 

Violetta had an uncanny ability to get through to her cousin.Maybe it was that she was family.Of all the people in Tarvek’s life, only she understood the mess that entailed.Maybe it was because she was the only one Tarvek kept in touch with who had known the people whose deaths had wounded him so deeply.Maybe it was just that she took no crap from anyone — least of all her cousin — and seemed to take him out of himself either by teasing him… or punching him. 

Gil suspected it was a little of column A and a little of column B.Violetta would let Tarvek have his solitude and then, when she’d decided it was enough, she’d find a way to bring him back to reality.On days like these, she might _‘run into him’_ out jogging and join in.Other times she’d _‘just happen to be getting coffee’_ along Tarvek’s route.Regardless, Gil felt better knowing Violetta was there for him.

<>

By the time Gil joined Tarvek for lunch, the redhead was looking almost back to normal.He greeted Gil cheerfully enough, pushing over Gil’s midday cuppa and busying himself with a sandwich as he settled down opposite. 

Deciding to get the worst over with, he asked how Tarvek’s morning had gone.Gil tensed automatically when his friend mentioned having caught up with Violetta while making a post-run, breakfast stop.Bouncing one leg in agitation, Gil waited for the inevitable reprimand.But it didn’t come.Instead Tarvek launched into an enthusiastic explanation of his experiments on his latest robotic prototype. 

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Gil dug into his own food.It was nice to simply sit, talking idly about their work.But, it was also bitter-sweet.Gil had missed Agatha most during their lunches these last four months.Eating together was a long-standing ritual.And, it was a perfect time for them to swap ideas about their projects. 

They each brought different knowledge, viewpoints and insights to problems.It was part of the reason they worked so well together.As a result, challenges that seemed insurmountable in the morning were dissected and sometimes solved over lunch.More than once, he reflected ruefully, Gil’s advisor had complimented his creativity and ingenuity, and Gil had been obliged to explain that some key insight had actually come from one of his best friends.

 _In fact_ , Gil considered, _he really need remember to ask Agatha her opinion about the—_

“Hey!”Fingers flicked his ear sharply, drawing him abruptly out of his thoughts.Confused Gil looked up to see Tarvek giving him a reproving look. 

“You haven’t been listening to a word I say.Is my research that boring?I hope you listen more closely to your patients, _Doctor Wulfenbach_.” 

Gil slumped. _Brilliant_.Here he was, all caught up in thinking about how much he missed sharing ideas between the three of them, and as a result he was being an abysmal conversationalist. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled.“I’m just distracted.”Gil offered Tarvek an apologetic smile.

“And what has you so preoccupied that you’re staring at that coffee like it’s your long lost love?I mean, I know how you med school people are about your coffee, but still.”

Gil flushed.“It’s not my fault you don’t have the taste and sophistication to appre—” he blustered.

Tarvek flicked him again, harder.

“Ow!” Gil yelped. 

Tarvek’s eyes narrowed.He crossed his arms, the image of stubbornness.

Gil glared for a moment, then caved.“I… I’m just glad Agatha’s coming home today.”He deliberately looked away, pretending to find interest in the weary students and frazzled faculty waiting in line at the cafe.“I’ve missed her.”

Gil kept his attention determinately focused everywhere but on Tarvek.When he was sure that his friend must have looked away or gotten lost in his own thoughts, he dared a glance.

Tarvek’s brown eyes were fixed on him, his expression too-understanding.

Gil cursed internally.

“What?” he snapped.This was dangerous and pointless territory.He didn’t want to risk tension — or worse, an argument — with Tarvek right now.

“So have I,” the redhead said simply. 

The burgeoning flames of irritation in his chest, died.Gil stared back, feeling that familiar sinking in his stomach.

 _We are idiots_.

Somewhere along the line, infatuation with Agatha had turned into love.For both of them.Tarvek might hide his feelings, but Gil had long since given up trying to keep his affection out of his face.He _knew_ he smiled too often and too broad at the sight of her.Hugged too tightly and clung too long.Listened too easily and boasted too readily. 

If it were any other rival, Gil knew he would have thrown his hat in the ring and knelt at her feet for a chance.He would have happily shouldered any other man aside.Done so without a qualm.Even risked losing a friend for her. 

But not Tarvek. 

Never Tarvek.

Shoving away his impossible thoughts, Gil sought for something innocuous to say. 

“I’m sure she missed us just as much.At least we had each other while she was away.”He meant the words to be easy, calm and reassuring.For himself even more than Tarvek.

Across from him, Tarvek snorted.“You say that like you think she didn’t make any friends in Budapest.”

“Of course she did.I know _that_ ,” he huffed.

“Maybe more than friends.”

Gil _froze_. 

His brain jammed at the words before swinging sharply into overdrive.Was Tarvek actually suggesting what Gil thought he was?

The redhead grimaced, his mouth a thin line of unhappiness, “Just saying…It’s common enough.” 

The lid on Gil’s cup gave a quiet pop, slipping off and leaking coffee all down his hands.He ignored it.

“You—You really…?”His throat caught.Gil’s stomach had abruptly vanished, leaving an aching hole in its place.

Tarvek looked at him bleakly. 

_How long do you think someone like Agatha will stay single?You think she’ll be content to be our friend like this forever?When someone else could offer her more?_

Gil searched his friend’s face, frantic for some sign that this was a joke. 

_She wouldn’t.She can’t.Do you really think she…?_

Snorting in derision, Tarvek shook his head.

_No idea.It’s inevitable, though.Isn’t it?We’ll lose her by inches.Just as soon as someone smart enough and attractive offers her friendship and romance._

Heedless of his damp, sticky fingers, Gil grabbed his friend’s arm.Whether he meant to steady himself with the contact or force Tarvek to take back the unspoken words, he didn’t know.

But Tarvek only shook his head sadly, for once looking as devastated as Gil felt.If he’d been in his right mind, Gil would have recognized how rare it was to see Tarvek so expressive. 

Cool fingers patted the back of his hand gently.Perhaps in comfort.Perhaps to encourage him to let go before Tarvek’s jacket was stained any further.Gil released him.The loss only intensified the ache inside. 

Could Agatha really have found someone she liked while she was away?Agatha was brilliant, driven.Gorgeous to the point of radiance.It was hard to imagine anyone _not_ being caught up in her.Would that mean the end of their comfortable friendship — sharing papers and ideas, lazy weekends and games?Would she pull away from him, no longer able to accept his touch because she had someone else?

His absent stomach returned with nauseating rapidity, now a churning pit of acid.Gil pressed the back of a hand to his mouth, swallowing down bile.

Leaning across the table, Tarvek shook him sharply by the shoulder, jolting Gil out of his thoughts. 

_Don’t.Don’t do this to yourself.We don’t know anything._

Head tilted in apology, Tarvek tried for a smile. 

It didn’t work.

<>

Somehow Gil survived the afternoon.He banished all thoughts of Agatha to the farthest corner of his mind and threw himself into his work.It might have been easier if this had been one of his clinic days rather than a lab day.For dual degree — medical and doctoral — students, weekends off were rare. 

Playlist pounding in his ears, Gil worked determinedly through his experiments.It was usually nice to have the space to himself on a Saturday.But, Gil found himself wishing for the bustle and distraction of his lab mates.Through sheer stubbornness, he kept at his work.And he’d made good progress by the time Tarvek came to drag him away. 

Grateful when he realized that his friend was in no mood to chat, Gil allowed himself to be piloted through a hasty dinner, prodded into a shower and finally decanted into clean clothes.It was a relief not to have to make decisions Gil reflected, pulling on the sweater that Tarvek had pointedly left out on his bed.He only had to focus on doing as directed and determinedly _not think_ about tonight. 

Tarvek didn’t allow him to pace once he was ready, either.Instead, he thrust Gil firmly down onto the couch. 

“We’ve still got some time.” 

He tossed Gil a controller before claiming his seat and proceeding to let Gil thrash him in three successive games before declaring it was finally time to leave.

The subway trip to The Factory wasn’t a long one.They were on the same line and it was a mere half dozen stops away.Gil felt his nerves rise as soon as they reached the station.But, Tarvek’s presence at his side was an anchor, stabilizing and giving Gil the strength he needed to grip his emotions hard and keep them from overwhelming him.

He was damn lucky to have Tarvek, he knew.Lucky to have been his friend all these years.Many people drifted away from their university friends once they’d moved on.Fewer still were close to those they’d made before college. 

And then there was Tarvek.First a thorn in his side, but then…

“What would I do without you?” Gil asked, throwing an arm around Tarvek’s shoulders.He tried to laugh along with the words.But, a tightness in his chest made the question emerge more earnest than planned.

Sharp fingers prodded his ribs through his jacket.“You’d be a hopeless case, as I’ve been saying for years,” Tarvek replied dryly.But, he didn’t pull away from Gil’s encircling arm.

“Pfff,” Gil tutted, knowing Tarvek was perfectly correct, but not about to give him the satisfaction of an admission. 

He hugged the redhead once more, tightly, and released him.

“Let’s go welcome our girl home.”


	2. The Parameters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Agatha’s morning passed in a blur of boarding and disembarking, cramped seats and long lines. Her flight to Frankfurt was so brief, it seemed they were hardly up in the air before the plane was once again descending. 
> 
> Her layover was only just long enough for her to grab a coffee and pastry and still make her boarding call. Agatha wasn’t much for breakfast usually, and there had been very little time this morning to think about food. Cradling her coffee cup and trying anxiously to avoid crushing her only source of sustenance, she settled herself into her seat. She exchanged small smiles with the older couple who joined her row and hoped ardently that they would be quiet, easy seat mates. 
> 
> She had a _lot _of thinking to do.__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed seeing through Gil's eyes in chapter one. This chapter switches to Agatha's POV. We'll stay with her for the rest of the story.
> 
> Tags have been updated to include a brief mention of self-esteem issues. To my eyes what is in this fic is very much like Agatha's experiences as a student at TPU prior to her break through.

**Agatha:  
** Finally!  
Made it to the airport  
and am at my gate  
Flight lands: 14:30.    
Then customs,   
immigration,   
and baggage.  
TIRED already!

 **Zeetha:  
** I’ll be there!  
Message me when your  
flight lands.  
You gonna sleep on the   
plane?

 **Agatha:  
** You know I’m terrible   
at sleeping on planes.    
Why?

 **Zeetha:  
** Because you’re coming   
out to The Factory with   
us tonight that’s why!!  
Welcome Home Party!!!!

 **Agatha:  
** Zee!!   
=(  
I can’t!  
It will be so late!  
I’m just going to fall  
asleep in our booth!

 **Zeetha:  
** We missed you,    
so you’re coming  
and you will drink your  
beer like a warrior!  
No excuses.

 **Agatha:  
** -.-  
You are going to be   
the death of me.

 **Zeetha:  
** Hey, one more thing!  
Gil and Tarvek are  
together.  
Thought you would   
want to know.  
They’re really looking  
forward to seeing you.

 **Agatha:  
** Wait.   
What!?  
They are????

 **Zeetha:  
** Of course they are  
You’ve been gone four   
months, what did you   
think would happen?  
Gil’s been such a mopey   
pain missing you.    
Tarvek too.

 **Agatha:  
** OMG  
How?  
When?  
Argh! Boarding!  
Have to go.  
See you soon.

<>

The rest of Agatha’s morning passed in a blur of boarding and disembarking, cramped seats and long lines.Her flight to Frankfurt was so brief, it seemed they were hardly up in the air before the plane was once again descending. 

Her layover was only _just_ long enough for her to grab a coffee and pastry and still make her boarding call.Agatha wasn’t much for breakfast usually, and there had been very little time this morning to think about food.Cradling her coffee cup and trying anxiously to avoid crushing her only source of sustenance, she settled herself into her seat.She exchanged small smiles with the older couple who joined her row and hoped ardently that they would be quiet, easy seat mates. 

She had a _lot_ of thinking to do.

_Gil and Tarvek are together_. 

Agatha stared at the words, bright on her phone’s screen. 

What the heck!?How had _that_ happened? 

_Gil and Tarvek are together_. 

It was mind boggling.After years and _years_ of friendship?Gil and Tarvek had… what? 

Shaken off the status quo and decided to—

She read Zeetha’s message again.And again.She read it until the lines blurred, trying to squeeze fresh meaning from those five words.

_Gil and Tarvek are together_. 

Who had made the overture?When had it happened?And how?

Agatha tried to imagine Tarvek, who flirted shamelessly with everyone, turning that charm on _Gil_. 

The image just didn’t fit. 

It didn’t fit precisely because Gil and Agatha — barring a memorable couple of months right after she and Tarvek had first met — were the only people besides family that he _didn’t_ flirt with.Flirtatiousness was one of his many social masks.Masks he dropped around only a precious few. 

Tarvek teased Gil, sure.And, poked fun at him.Bickered.That was a staple of their friendship.But, he treated Gil with unmistakable affection, just like he did Agatha.

Puzzled, Agatha tried instead to envision _Gil_ , all open friendliness and easy intimacy, angling for something romantic with Tarvek. 

Gil had always been tactile, better with deeds than words where his feelings were concerned.Physical affection came easy to Gil.It came naturally with Agatha.But also with Tarvek, for all that was less common between young men. 

Still, it seemed… _unlikely_.Agatha had never known Gil to express a romantic interest in a man, not like Tarvek who didn’t seem to have a preference one way or another. 

Surely it couldn’t have been Gil who had—

And yet they _had_. 

Gotten together _,_ that is.

The evidence was right there in front of her.It wasn’t like she could have misheard or misunderstood; the words were stark on the screen: _Gil and Tarvek are together._

“Brauchen sie’n Taschentuch?” asked a voice.* 

Agatha jumped.Turning she found the woman in the seat next to her offering a tissue.When Agatha only looked blank, she nodded sympathetically at the crumbs that littered Agatha’s lap. 

In her confusion and anxiety, she had forgotten all about her food.While she’d been thinking, her fingers had kept busy systemically shredding her pastry. 

Scarlet with embarrassment, Agatha accepted with a murmured _‘danke’_ and began to pick bits of crumb carefully from her clothes.

Perhaps it really was the time alone, like Zeetha said, that had made the difference?They’d been a trio a long time, since their second semester at university.It had been years since Gil and Tarvek had been friends _without_ Agatha in the mix.And, they’d all changed over the intervening years.Perhaps how Gil and Tarvek felt toward one another had evolved from friendship to include attraction?Maybe they’d simply needed the time and space alone to realize it?

Agatha sighed, crumpling up the tissue, and tried to take a step back and consider the situation objectively.

There was no doubt about it, Gil and Tarvek were practically joined at the hip. 

Zeetha had taken Tarvek for her brother’s boyfriend when they’d first been introduced. _That_ confusion had lead to a rather hilarious exchange and a lot of embarrassment all around.Even Agatha had assumed something of the sort when the three first found themselves in the same robotics course.She still had fond memories of the class, even though she and Gil had left Tarvek to pursue that interest and moved on to other fields.

Then, there was the way they always seemed to orbit one another.You only had to ask Tarvek about his day for his answer to include ‘ _Gil_ _this_ ’ and ‘ _Gil_ _that’_.There was the way Gil turned automatically to Tarvek whenever he entered a room, like a mariner seeking the north star. _And,_ Gil’s habit of touching Tarvek.Which Tarvek accepted, even though the redhead was typically militant about his personal space.Then there was Tarvek’s custom of sharpening his tongue on anyone hapless enough to cross him… yet he always stopped just short of actual offense with Gil. 

Of course, the all same things could have been said of either man and Agatha herself, she reflected dully.So maybe it wasn’t such compelling evidence after all.Disgruntled, she shifted around in her seat trying to make herself more comfortable.She stared out the window and wracked her brains thinking about all their years together and the many ways their relationships had evolved. 

Both men certainly had many attractive qualities.And, now she came to reflect, it was… _unusual_ that neither dated very much.Gil seemed oblivious to the impact that his friendliness had on people.Tarvek flirted charmingly, but he never took it further than that.If _she_ found them both attractive, was it really so surprising that they might feel the same way toward each other?Did such a things happen after years of friendship?

Agatha had no answers.It was all so bewildering.She glared at the puffy, white clouds outside.Earth-shattering news and no good way of asking questions.

They were interrupted by the flight attendants coming down the aisle with the drinks service.Agatha’s coffee had gone cold in her distraction, and she was happy to replace it with a fresh cup.The tiny biscuits on offer were a poor substitute for her deceased pastry, but she was in no position to complain. 

Holding her cup, Agatha stared down at her phone and tried to figure out what she _felt_. 

Confusion.Uncertainty.A lurking dread? 

She had been _so_ looking forward to seeing them.Frankly, seeing Gil and Tarvek was the only reason Zeetha was going to be successful in dragging her out tonight. 

They were her _best friends_ , and leaving them behind this fall had been… hard.She ran a finger around the edge of her phone, feeling the bumps and divots in the case without seeing them.It _wasn’t_ that her trip was forever.It was only a few months.And, it _wasn’t_ that she couldn’t manage on her own.Of course, she could.

Agatha frowned at her reflection in the blank screen.No.When other people looked at her friends, they just saw a pair of tall, broad shouldered young men.Gil’s dazzling smile and Tarvek’s smooth talk.But, their appeal wasn’t the reason Agatha had missed them. 

It wasn’t the reason she adored them.

No.

They _got_ her.

They _got_ her ideas.

They could keep _up_.

They offered good _insights_.

They made everything _more fun_!

All too often in Agatha’s life, classmates — and teachers — had scoffed, made fun of her ideas or only stared blankly when she volunteered her thoughts.Before starting university, school had been a kind of daily torture.Agatha loved learning new things, but somehow her mind worked on a wavelength that no one else could access.So, she had been the _weird_ kid.The one whose brain didn’t work right.Even when other kids were nice to her, she could see their kindness came from pity. 

Back then, it had been better to be alone.

Gil and Tarvek had been a _revelation_.

They intuitively understood math and science the way she did.Far from thinking that her mind didn’t work right, they’d thought she was brilliant.And at the start she’d been sucked in, seduced by the presence of people who didn’t think the time they spent with her was a waste. 

She’d ended the term, hoping desperately that she’d find one or both of them in future classes.But, they hadn’t waited for that.Suddenly Agatha found herself invited to things, her company _desired_.Some days it was because they’d hit upon a question or started a project and wanted her to join in.Other times it seemed they simply wanted to spend time with her, inviting her to watch movies, or game or come out to parties with their friends. 

Amazingly, Gil and Tarvek made space for her.She never felt like an intrusion on their comfortable friendship.She _fitted_.Like the missing gear in their mechanism. 

It was astonishing.Overwhelming.And utterly wonderful.

The only real hiccup had been finding out that they were as attracted to her as she was to them. 

_Both_ of them.

In typical Gil-style, he hadn’t actually _said_ a thing.He only gazed longingly at her — _like a fool_ , Zeetha said — day after day.Until one night in the lab when they’d solved a particularly difficult problem, and he’d caught her up, spun her around and proclaimed, “You’re brilliant!Promise you’ll marry me!?”

It hadn’t even occurred to her that there was genuine sentiment behind the words they were so ridiculous.They’d been up half the night, drunk on coffee and adrenaline.So she’d laughed, thinking it a joke.

Laughed.In his face. 

Only when she’d seen the hurt there, did Agatha realize the truth, and think that perhaps this was the first time that truth was dawning on Gil.

The way Tarvek had handled his feelings couldn’t have been more different. 

_“Wulfenbach loves you.He really does,”_ he’d whispered. _“But I love you, too.For a thousand reasons.”_ His kiss had rooted her to the spot.Warm and full of a promise she couldn’t understand. 

And then, it was over.

He’d turned away. 

As though it had never happened! 

And, Tarvek had not spoken of his feelings again.

It wasn’t that she didn’t feel the same.But, that was just the problem.She _did_.Agatha liked them both a lot.Too much, she’d decided, to endanger their friendship.Even more than that, what Gil and Tarvek had was special.And, she’d refused to come between them.

At times she had the impression that they themselves had come to a similar decision.It was in the little looks.The careful way they made space for each other.The way they studiously avoided speaking of her as anything other than a friend.

So, they’d made the hard choice.They’d chosen all three of them, their comfortable little trio of… friends. 

<>

Nearly fourteen hours, one layover, two airline meals and an interminable wait at customs later, Agatha finally threw her exhausted self into Zeetha’s waiting arms. 

“You’re home!You’re home!You’re home!” her friend squealed, dancing them around the floor of the arrivals hall and forcing several people to dodge around them.A woman in a business suit spared them a glare and tutted impatiently at their antics. 

Zeetha ignored the interruption and pulled back to hold Agatha by the shoulders and look her over.“You look like hell,” she proclaimed.

“So would you after a day this long!” Agatha retorted, unable to keep a grin from splitting her face in spite of the criticism.

“Oh, I _missed_ you!” Zeetha snatched her back into another bone-breaking hug.“Come on, let’s get your things and get out of here.Axel is circling with the car.”She hefted Agatha’s suitcase as though it weighed next to nothing and pulled out her phone.“Let me just tell him we’re ready.”

The trip to her friend’s apartment passed in a blur.Zeetha chatted her ear off all the way there while her boyfriend drove.It was amazing how much the two women had to say, given that they’d video chatted regularly while Agatha had been gone.It was rather like being chauffeured, sitting in the back of the car together exchanging stories with Axel up front, occasionally tossing a remark over his shoulder.

The adrenaline high of seeing her friend lasted just long enough to get her through Zeetha’s front door.All Agatha wanted to do then was collapse in a heap on the couch, but her friend chivvied her roughly into the apartment and, after plunking Agatha’s bag down in the bedroom, had ordered her straight to the shower. 

It was actually nice once Agatha was standing under the warm spray, feeling the water wash away the stress of the day and the heat sink into her bones.It was good to be away from the crowds and have a moment of peace and solitude.She soaped and shampooed and scrubbed, letting her mind wander.She was nearly finished when Zeetha tapped on the door. 

“Still alright in there?You haven’t drowned?”

Agatha shut off the water, wrapped herself in a towel and cracked the door. 

“Not drowned,” she sighed gustily as steam billowed around them.“That was _so_ nice.First time I’ve felt properly relaxed all day.”

“You look better,” Zeetha nodded, considering her critically.“You want me to help with your hair?”

Agatha smiled, “That would be amazing.” 

She perched on the edge of the sink while her friend sat on the rim of the tub and finger-combed balm through Agatha’s long hair. 

“I’ve missed this,” Zeetha commented. 

Agatha giggled.“I have, too.I didn’t exactly have anyone to do girl’s nights with while I was gone.”

“Just as well,” Zeetha teased.“Violetta would never forgive you if you went off and replaced us.And neither would I!”Her friend emphasized the point with a soft tug on Agatha’s long tail of hair.

“Nobody else’s place is functionally a salon, either,” Agatha pointed out, letting her eyes drift shut.

Keeping her hair dyed it’s usual brilliant green took a toll, so Zeetha compensated with an impressive array of treatments.The bathroom was littered with conditioners, beauty balms, serums and hair masques.

Zeetha laughed close to her ear as she massaged Agatha’s crown.“I’m sure Tarvek’s bathroom could rival this one for hair products!”

Agatha’s heart _stopped_.

_Tarvek_

_Gil and Tarvek_

The last couple of hours had been so busy — what with dragging her weary self through all of the machinations necessary to re-enter the country — and Agatha’s mind had been distracted with keeping her paperwork straight and messaging Zeetha. 

Now, all her worries and uncertainties about tonight’s ‘welcome home party’ — how soon she’d be seeing Gil and Tarvek — rushed back, bringing with them a strange fizzing feeling she couldn’t identify.A dull pounding started up in her chest and threatened to choke her.Agatha swallowed back a rising sense of panic.

She wanted to see them.She did.And yet, suddenly she was terrified of what she _would_ see and how she would feel.So many new couples became entirely caught up in one another, setting aside their friends and family in the heat and joy of a new romance.What if her time away had unwittingly been the beginning of the end for the three of them? 

Tears sprang up in her eyes.Her throat tightened and for a moment she couldn’t breathe around the lump lodged there.Agatha twisted, keeping her head down so Zeetha would not see the drops that fell onto her towel-covered lap.

Behind her, her friend’s hands were gentle and soothing.But, Agatha couldn’t take comfort in it anymore.

“Hey, is everything okay?What’s going on?” Zeetha asked, pausing and reaching for her.

Agatha was going to have to talk with Zeetha about this at some point.Yet, she wasn’t sure that she wanted that time to be now.She scooted around just enough to look at her friend.

Something of what she was feeling must have shown in her face, because Zeetha nodded knowingly.“Ah.So _that’s_ what you’re thinking about.” 

“I don’t know—” she began.But, the words were cut off by Zeetha tugging again on her hair. 

“Ack!” Agatha glowered at her friend. 

Zeetha raised one eyebrow, but did not apologize.

“Fine.I’m thinking about seeing Gil and Tarvek tonight.It shouldn’t be weird, but it will be.Won’t it?Given everything?I mean, it has to, right?I know we’ve always been close, but I just keep thinking… what if something changes?And then I think… it probably _will_ be different, won’t it?But then, it’s… it’s just us.It’s always been us.And, so…”

Agatha was babbling.With an effort she stopped, pulled herself together and met Zeetha’s eyes, “I guess I just don’t know what I’m going to do if things change between us.”

“But, why would they have to change?You know how they feel about you. _That_ hasn’t changed.”

Looking down, Agatha toyed with the hem of her towel.“You’re sure?”

“Of course, I’m sure!” Zeetha protested, looking at her as though Agatha was losing her mind.“You _have_ to know that!”

“I suppose I do,” she agreed quietly.Though, Agatha wasn’t sure she was prepared to consider the implications of that reality.

“Do you… _not_ want to see them?” Zeetha asked, sounding confused and worried.

Agatha flushed.“Of course, I want to see them.” 

Zeetha’s answering smile was understanding.Maybe _too_ understanding. 

Picking up where she’d left off, Zeetha began to work a brush through Agatha’s hair. 

“They missed you like crazy while you were away, you know,” Zeetha said gently.“My brother wouldn’t shut up about the latest thing you were working on or the picture you’d sent or the famous people you were meeting.” 

Agatha glanced at her friend in the mirror.That much was true.They’d messaged every day without fail.A text.A picture.A question.A paper. _Something_. 

Every single day.

The recollection made her breathe a little easier.Surely two people who were completely wrapped up in one another would forget those little details, wouldn’t they?But, Gil and Tarvek hadn’t.

Behind her navel a new sensation bloomed. 

They hadn’t forgotten her.

The implication struck her with all the force of a _bomb_. 

What if this wasn’t the end at all?What if… 

Agatha remembered the feeling of Gil’s hands on her waist.Tarvek’s lips on hers. 

She inhaled sharply and pressed a hand over her face.What if this… this _thing_ between Gil and Tarvek was the missing piece instead?The piece with the power to change everything. 

_Oh._

Zeetha was still talking, but Agatha wasn’t listening. 

Her brain hummed, overwhelmed by this one _devastating_ idea.In the silence of her mind, rules and limits, assumptions and expectations cracked and began to collapse.

“It was a bit annoying, really,” Zeetha was saying, scowling at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

“What?What was annoying?”Agatha dragged herself back to the conversation at hand.“Sorry, I’m still pretty fuzzy.”

“My brother.Pretty much the definition of annoying.”Zeetha wrinkled her nose in mock disgust.

That made Agatha snort. 

“I’m _sorry_ the boys were such a bother while I was away.”She grinned.She couldn’t help it.All of sudden, she was feeling oddly tipsy, her body unsteady on a changing sea of emotions. 

“Well, I’m glad you’re back, so I don’t have to listen to them pine and whine!” Zeetha replied.She gave one final tug to Agatha’s hair.“Let’s get going.I can’t wait to relinquish custody.Then, they can be your problem again.Hop to!”

**_* Do you need a tissue?(Ger.)_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was actually intended to be much longer, but it was starting to be too much. I'm going to post the other half in a separate chapter tonight just to create a necessary break in the story.
> 
> If you think this work has way too much coffee and tea... All I can say is, I'm correctly representing academia as I've experienced it.


	3. The Equation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shift in the crowd opened up the way ahead so they could see clearly. “Oh good!” Zeetha grinned at her. “They got our spot!”
> 
> They sat close together at one end of a large booth, heads bent and deep in conversation. Tarvek drew something on the table as though shaping an idea with his hands. Even from this distance, she could see Gil’s eyes light and the flash of a grin as he replied. He dashed his hair out of his eyes and the lamp overhead struck gold sparks from his unruly mane. 
> 
> Tarvek nodded and clinked their glasses in evident approval of Gil’s response. Gil’s deep, resonant laugh rang out through the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay folks. Let's have some fluff, huh?
> 
> All. The. Fluff.
> 
> So, grab the tea and blankets people and bring on the cuddle puddle. =)

The Sausage Factory looked exactly like it always had — long bar with comfortable, swivel top chairs, booths along one wall with highboys arranged around the floor, another wall taken up with a small stage and large screens for sports games and trivia.And in the back was Agatha’s favorite spot, an array of couches and low tables curving around a fireplace. 

She didn’t know what she’d expected.Perhaps that the pub would have changed or seem unfamiliar somehow, now she was seeing her favorite people and places through new eyes.Her fellowship in Budapest had only lasted four months.Somehow it felt like longer.

Zeetha took her arm and together they wound their way through the crush of people and tables toward the booths, Axel following along in their wake. 

Agatha’s heart beat with such violence that she looked down, certain she would find the organ fighting its way free of her chest. 

Briefly, through the throng, she caught a glimpse of them. _Of Tarvek’s red hair, in truth._ Lamps hung suspended on chains from the ceiling throwing light over the room.The one above their table cast a halo of brilliant silver around his head. 

Her mind jammed at the sight, seizing up like an engine clogged with grit.She was suddenly torn between a mad desire to wrench her arm free of Zeetha’s and run straight for them and a powerful need to prolong this moment-before-meeting for all eternity. 

A shift in the crowd opened up the way ahead so they could see clearly.“Oh good!” Zeetha grinned at her.“They got our spot!”

They sat close together at one end of a large booth, heads bent and deep in conversation.Tarvek drew something on the table as though shaping an idea with his hands.Even from this distance, she could see Gil’s eyes light and the flash of a grin as he replied.He dashed his hair out of his eyes and the lamp overhead struck gold sparks from his unruly mane. 

Tarvek nodded and clinked their glasses in evident approval of Gil’s response. 

Gil’s deep, resonant laugh rang out through the room.

Agatha saw the moment Zeetha’s voice reached their ears.

The moment they both turned and saw her.

Agatha did not feel her friend release her arm.

Nor her boots strike the floor. 

There was only Gil’s smile.

Tarvek’s shout.

Her heart.

And _home_.

Gil was first out of the booth.He opened his arms, and Agatha threw herself into them.Gil snatched her up, bracing easily against her weight and swung her around, both of them laughing and Agatha half shrieking, half crying.He spun twice around as he crushed her to his chest. 

Then she was on her feet again, Gil turning her and pushing her into Tarvek’s hold.Tarvek’s arms were wonderfully tight, pulling her flush against him from neck to knees.Agatha kissed his cheek and buried her face in his collar, breathing him in.Automatically, Tarvek’s hand came up and cradled the back of her neck as he swayed. 

Someone bumped them in the crush.“Gil, here—” Tarvek started in an undertone.But Gil was already crowding up against Agatha’s back, his hands bracketing her waist to steady her and shield them from further jostling. 

Without warning, the weight of months away piled on top of the stress of the day hit her like a freight train.Agatha heaved out a single huge sob, and her body went limp between them.

Agatha hated crying.Hated the useless way it made her feel.Mercifully, neither of her friends mentioned a thing.Instead, Gil rubbed her back as Tarvek stroked her hair, crooning low in his throat until she gathered herself enough to gulp for air and raise her head.

“You’re _here_ ,” she said stupidly.“You’re _together_!”

Tarvek chuckled, face alight and full of happy affection.“Well, I can tell _you’re_ jet lagged.Where else would we be on the day you came home?”

“Don’t sound so surprised!” Gil protested, easing around to her side so he could see her face. 

Impulsively, Agatha grabbed his shoulder and tugged him close enough so she could kiss his cheek too, making him laugh.

“I hate to break up the love fest,” Zeetha interrupted, coming over and trying to tug Agatha away from them.“But she _does_ have other friends who would like to say hello sometime this century.”

“Hey!” Gil objected holding tight to Agatha’s waist and glowering at his sister.

“Don’t you ‘hey’ me!” she replied.“If we let you three carry on uninterrupted, you’d stay like this all night.Now step away from the girl and let her other friends have a chance.We promise to return her unbruised!” 

After that, there was no time for Agatha to _be_ tired.She found herself handed from one person to the next.A constant stream of crushing hugs and squeezing hands as her friends filled her ears with their delight at seeing her home again. 

Violetta ducked between the others in order to be first in line and commandeered Agatha’s person, holding her fiercely and complaining about how there hadn’t been nearly enough _girl time_ with her away.She launched into a litany of all the things Agatha had missed and all the places Violetta wanted to go now that they were back together.Agatha couldn’t help laughing and kissing her friend on the top of the head, promising to spend an entire weekend together as soon as they could manage it.

Once Violett had slipped away Dimo, Maxim and Ognian immediately swarmed over her.They had been friends of her father and her uncle many years ago.And they’d crashed into her life when she’d first arrived at the university, proclaiming that they’d been ordered to keep an eye on her, all alone and away from home for the first time.All three worked for a private security agency, doing things Agatha had long since learned not to ask about.But, Zeetha liked them — had even met Axel through them — and they approved of Gil and Tarvek. 

“Hyu schmott boyz iz so heppy to see hyu.Dey vas such a pain in de neck vhile hyu vas avay,” Dimo said, hugging her so hard that her feet left the ground.

Zeetha’s green head appeared over Agatha’s shoulder.“Hey, I promised Gil no bruises!”She shook an admonitory finger in the man’s face, then vanished.

“He gonna _see_ if ve leave any?”Maxim’s shouted gleefully, pulling her in for his own hug.“Vell done, Miz Agatha!”His smile was too wide and far too full of teeth as he squeezed her tight, then winked cheekily and let her go. 

“Mebbe dey _bot_ gonna see!” Oggie chortled, ignoring her disapproving frown.She opened her mouth to protest that it really wasn’t like that, but closed it again.Protests only encouraged these three, and she didn’t want to give them fodder for gossip. 

It was a relief when Colette slid an arm through hers and led Agatha a few steps away for her own, much gentler but no less enthusiastic welcome. 

“Ugh! _Thank you_ for rescuing me!” Agatha sighed happily, letting her head fall against the woman’s shoulder. 

“It’s what I do: rescuing princesses.”Colette winked.At her elbow, her girlfriend giggled.Agatha accepted her greeting as well, before Colette interrupted.“Why don’t you come sit with us!I want to hear all about your research!Did you get to meet Professor —?”

“Not so fast,” a light male voice came from behind Agatha.“She still has one more hug coming.”

Agatha spun around to find a tall young man incongruously clutching a rocks glass full of coffee and flanked by Gil and Tarvek.

“Van!” she shouted.“How did they get you to come _here!?_ ”She hugged him hard, careful not to jostle his drink.“I didn’t know they made coffee at the Factory,” she pointed to his hand.

“They didn’t.Or at least you couldn’t call it coffee,” Van frowned.“But, I’ve given them a tutorial on the correct methods of prepara—”

Gil cut him off swiftly.“The manager just flagged us over and begged us to take him away.He was terrorizing the staff.”

Unapologetically, Van shrugged.“At least I now have a decent cup of coffee.”He looked around like a ruler surveying territory for possible conquering.“I might come here more often if it’s going to be like this.”He nodded politely to a server who was handing out drinks to their group. 

The young woman blanched and scurried away.

“Pfff,” Tarvek scoffed.“No one who’s serious about coffee drinks it for the _taste!”_ He clinked his glass against Gil’s and they laughed.

“Never mind them,” Agatha soothed, smiling up at Van.“What I really want to know is” — she reached up and brushed a hand over his head — “What did you _do!?_ ” 

“Uh.” Van blushed and ran his fingers through his new dark undercut and blonde tips.“Just thought I’d change it up a bit, you know?Do you like it?” he asked, low.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Tarvek grumbled.“Stop man-handling our girl genius and hand her over.”Agatha started to giggle, but the sound died in her throat when she caught Tarvek’s expression.His eyebrows had snapped together and he looked mutinous. 

“It’s great,” she told Van encouragingly.Then, offering him an apologetic smile, she kissed his cheek and let Tarvek pull her away. 

<>

The next hour found her inundated with questions about her trip from a rotation of friends.By the time she started in on the story of how she had been convinced by the other students in her program to try cock testicles* at a group dinner for the _third_ time, Tarvek dragged a grumbling Gil away to the bar to secure a fresh round of drinks for their table. 

Her friends were wonderful, Agatha thought bemused.But aside from Colette, Gil and Tarvek headed the short list of those who were actually interested in her _research_ and understood she’d spent her stint abroad doing actual _work_ rather than visiting the tourist sights or spending her nights taking in the city’s club scene. 

Still, her heart was full to overflowing with happiness at seeing their familiar faces.She was just considering how to direct the conversation away from her escapades when the nightly trivia game was announced. 

Gil and Tarvek returned, hands full of glasses.“We’re playing, right!?” they asked together, distributing their bounty to enthusiastic cheers.The group shuffled around, organizing into teams as Gil and Tarvek strove to claim their places next to her.

“That’s—I think you’d better leave me out,” she said, fumbling to cover a yawn.“I’m exhausted _and_ —” she paused and frowned as a new drink was placed in front of her. 

From Gil’s far side, Zeetha flicked her none-too-gently on the top of the head.

“Drink your alcohol like a warrior,” she ordered, grinning broadly.Agatha stuck out her tongue at her and resolved to find better, more _sympathetic_ friends.

“You can be on _our_ team,” Colette offered, graciously.“I’ve hardly gotten to say hello, the boys are monopolizing you so much!You come sit with us and together we’ll school these clowns.”Without waiting for a reply, she shoved at Tarvek until he made space for Agatha to slide over his lap and onto the seat by Colette.

She did her best.Agatha applied herself to their game and paced her drinking carefully. 

Inebriation on top of jet lag would make for a miserable morning.It didn’t help that Gil and Zeetha both had iron stomachs and apparently _never_ got hung over.Tarvek could hold his drink like a sailor, his increasingly posh accent and precise diction the only outward signs of intoxication.Still, she _had_ spent four months talking about advances in mathematics with eminent Hungarian professors, and the traditional liquors _they_ favored could have stripped paint.

In spite of her best efforts though, Agatha struggled to make any meaningful contribution.Something about the fluff in her brain was slowing down her cognitive processes, a distinct disadvantage in a game that demanded swift cogitation. 

It really was far easier just to lean over and rest her head on Tarvek’s shoulder…

<>

By the time trivia finally ended, Agatha’s back was aching and her neck had a crick from the hard booth seat. 

“I need someplace _soft_ to sit,” she grumbled.

“Looks like one of the couches is free,” Gil craned to see through the crowd. 

Tarvek helped her sit upright, then slid swiftly out of his seat.“I’m on it.”He threaded his way easily between people, dodging elbows and avoiding drinks to secure the spot for them.

They were draped over the couch and each other deep in the middle of a discussion about the differences in academic culture between theoretical mathematics and applied mathematics, when Zeetha and Axel finally came to say good night. 

Violetta had long since thrown in the towel, yawning and grousing about how early she’d been up to go running with her cousin.But, Agatha had seen the way she smiled when Tarvek hugged her and murmured _‘thank you’_.The boys, too, had left — for a club they’d said — stating that the Factory’s scene was too tame for them of a Saturday night.They’d carried a protesting Van off with them, insisting that he’d enjoy a taste of hell raising.Even Colette had been dragged away by her apologetic girlfriend who’d insisted that although Colette didn’t need beauty rest, _she_ did.This had earned her a resounding kiss and the two left laughing, hand-in-hand.

“No, no.Don’t get up.I wouldn’t dream of disturbing this” — Zeetha waved her hands in the general direction of the three of them — “ _cuddle puddle_.I haven’t seen this thorn-in-my-side look so happy since before you left.”She leaned over to hug Agatha where she sat sideways tucked against Gil’s shoulder.

“I wash my hands of these two!Consider this me officially relinquishing custody.They are _yours_.”Zeetha grinned wickedly and cuffed her brother on the ear, then offered Tarvek her fist.He juggled his snifter briefly before reaching out to bump it. 

“Glad you’re home,” Axel’s deep voice said.He came around the low table and took her hand, kissing her fingertips in an exaggerated, courtly gesture that was somehow genuine when coming from him.“Don’t be fooled.It wasn’t just your boys who missed you.Zee grumbled and fretted the entire time you were away.She’s glad to have you back.And, so am I.”His blue eyes crinkled cheerfully at her, and she squeezed his fingers in return. 

“It’s good to be back,” she replied sincerely.“And, it was sweet of you all to come out tonight.”

“Hasn’t been the same without you,” he admitted. 

Then with a last wave, Zeetha led him away.

<>

Hours later, Agatha was enjoying the last of her beer and an easy buzz. 

“…So he offers _me_ one!And, I’m standing there like an idiot.I have no idea what to do.I mean I’ve never _smoked_ before and there is this eminent professor, looking like he’s handed me proof of the Riemann Hypothesis and is holding up a match!”

Agatha gestured in the air before her, waving an imaginary cigar and an invisible lighter. 

“Don’t keep us in suspense!What did you do?”Tarvek’s eyes danced behind his glasses.His mouth split in a grin wide enough to have decorated a jack-o’-lantern. 

“I accepted it of course!I mean it had taken me half the day just to get there, and he’s setting up to tell me all about his work.What person could have said _‘no’_ to that!?” 

“Someone who wanted to avoid lung cancer?” Gil suggested dryly.

Agatha half twisted to look up at him.“But this was _math_ , Gil!” she pleaded.“Beautiful, gorgeous math!”She sketched out the equations in the air before her as though they might see and appreciate their elegance with her. 

“You are utterly outrageous.”Tarvek shook his head half disapproving, half admiring.“No one else is _that_ dedicated to their research.”He stroked her calf, as though silently approving her devotion to mathematics.

“They should be!” she protested. 

Agatha was distantly aware that she might be getting a bit carried away in her enthusiasm.But, the work _had_ been truly beautiful, and she’d been so lucky to even meet with the Professor.That had been the whole purpose of her fellowship — to actually speak with the mathematicians upon whose work she was basing her thesis. 

“Hey Gil, do you remember the time we tried smoking cigars?”

“Oh my god,” Gil’s chest heaved as he groaned loudly at the memory.“You mean when Theo snuck into the Headmaster’s office and raided his liquor cabinet and humidor?” 

Gil braced her with one arm as he leaned forward to place his empty glass on the small table in front of them. 

“Theo hatches this _‘cunning plan’_ ” — Gil’s fingers sketched out the quotation marks — “to infiltrate the Headmaster’s locked office through the ceiling panels.It was no mean feat, mind you.It was vintage.Tin ceiling tiles covering the entire thing.”

Tarvek nodded along to the story, swirling his beer and inspecting the color absently.

“In the end, Theo gets away with a box of the Headmaster’s fancy Cubans and an amazing bottle of twenty year old whiskey that one of the parents had gifted him.Some wealthy family with business in Japan.Anyway, then he insists we all celebrate his victory by breaking in the stash.”

There was an undignified snort from Tarvek.“Yeah, yeah.Gil’s not telling the _real_ story,” he said, looking pointedly at him before tipping Agatha a huge wink.“Gil here ends up sick as a dog on the combination, and _I_ end up awake all night taking care of his sorry a—”

“Anyway!” Gil cut in loudly.“Passing over our debauched youth.I want to hear more about Agatha’s trip.”

She tried not to laugh, if only to spare Gil’s feelings. 

This had to be as close to perfection as she would ever get, resting comfortably against Gil’s chest, her legs folded up in Tarvek’s lap.Gil toyed idly with strands of her hair, while Tarvek had one arm wrapped around her legs and balanced his glass on top of her knee with his free hand.Her cheeks were warm, her belly warmer.Everything was exactly as it should be.For all her worrying, they’d just slipped back together like puzzle pieces clicking into place, familiar and easy.Close and tight.

She giggled, remembering Zeetha’s crack about their _cuddle puddle_.Their friends had been making fun of them for years for piling into chairs and couches or on beds together.Born in attraction, the relaxed physicality became habit as they’d settled into friendship.

“What’re you thinking of?”Tarvek’s expression was soft as he leaned close and caught up a bit of her hair.She watched his deft fingers comb through it and start weaving a complex, many-stranded braid. 

“Oh um… just Zeetha’s bit about us being a cuddle puddle,” she laughed.Agatha enjoyed the way the alliteration felt on her tongue, the gentle snap against her upper palate. 

“It was a sad puddle without you,” Gil replied mournfully. 

“I don’t know how you manage with this wall of muscle anyway,” Tarvek sniffed through his long nose for all the world like an aristocrat mocking a rival, until he ruined the effect by poking Gil in one bulging bicep. 

“ _You_ are perfect for cuddling,” he continued in a deep seductive voice, lifting her hand to press it theatrically to his lips.“But, Gil…pfff” Tarvek let the words trail away accompanied by a languid wave.

Agatha wanted to protest that she thought them both lovely for cuddling, but the sound of the bartender’s voice cut through the crowd as they shouted for last call.Gil slid free, replacing his bulk with a cushion, and made for the bar.With a quiet word, Tarvek excused himself to the restroom. 

Before Agatha could make up her own mind about another beverage, a young woman plopped down onto the couch next to her. 

“Hi!” the stranger said brightly, blue eyes twinkling.“I was going to ask if I could buy a drink for the cute one earlier, but I see he’s taken.Lucky you!”The woman leaned in and squeezed Agatha’s arm as though they were dear friends. 

“Oh!Oh, no.It’s uh…well, it’s not like that. _They’re_ together.My friends… are together.”Agatha’s tongue stumbled around the words.

Her new acquaintance’s eyebrows flew up.“Is that so?” 

“Mmm hmm,” Agatha nodded dumbly, the fizzing feeling in her middle that had continued all evening, intensified.“It’s recent.They got together while I was away this fall.The three of us have been friends for years,” she finished on an uncertain laugh. 

_Why was she telling this stranger her life story?_ Agatha wondered distantly.Shouldn’t she be asking who this woman was, not sharing these details?

“Hey, I’m back.I just got two, because I didn’t kn…” Gil’s voice trailed away at the sight of Agatha’s companion.“Oh sorry, am I interrupting you—”

“—and your new friend?” Tarvek finished, coming up behind Gil and claiming one of the glasses in his hands.

“Uh…” Agatha hesitated.She didn’t want to offend her unexpected guest. 

However, she didn’t have time to think about a proper reply, for the young woman smiled widely at the three of them and answered for her. 

“No, no!You’re not interrupting at all.I was just leaving.”She turned to Agatha and surprised her by leaning in for a hug, “It was so nice to talk with you.”

Then before Agatha could formulate a response, the woman whispered in her ear, “And you should open your eyes, sweetie.”With that, she kissed Agatha’s cheek, rose and disappeared back into the crowd.

“Now, what in the world was that all about?” Tarvek mused, sitting down and settling Agatha’s legs back onto his lap. 

“I have absolutely no idea…”

**_* In fairness to Agatha, her Hungarian language lessons thus far had not covered the vocabulary required to understand precisely what the dish in question involved.And, she lacked the personal experience to make the necessary connections…_ **

**_If she had known, Agatha would have avoided the dish entirely.As all who have experience in a biological laboratory can appreciate, it is distressing to find on one’s dinner plate an example of a creature that one has previously dissected._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks all for reading! Please subscribe if you would like updates! <3
> 
> Next chapters will go up on Tuesday and Thursday of this week, depending on your time zone.
> 
> Please scream at me about GG in the comments and Discord.
> 
> Comment and kudos fuel the Muses. I will also love you forever if you include comments here as well as on Discord. It's wonderful to be able to re-read the nice things people have said.


	4. The Model

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gil was sprawled out on his bed, shirtless when she emerged. “In here,” he called, waving an arm at her to join him. 
> 
> She had to admit he made an attractive picture, all long limbs and miles of bare skin. Somehow in four months, she’d forgotten just how tall he was. And built. Muscled enough that he strained the thighs of his own lounge pants, though they were meant to be loose. 
> 
> Tarvek came up behind her, quiet as a cat. Startled, she tore her eyes away from Gil. Unfortunately, looking at Tarvek wasn’t much better. A loose, sleeveless shirt in a red so dark it nearly matched his hair only served to set off the width of his shoulders. His joggers, fitted as they were, only drew attention to the curve of his rear. 
> 
> Agatha swallowed and shook her head slightly in an attempt to clear it. Unfortunately the fog — and the arousal — remained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, today has been an utterly ridiculous, miserable, no good, very bad day. And the worst part of it is that all my editing time got taken up dealing with a plumbing disaster of epic proportions. 
> 
> When I say my day has been s**t... 
> 
> Right, so you get the picture.
> 
> What you don't get is all the chapter'liciousness I promised today. I had this "chapter" chopped in twain so that folks who aren't keen on the smut could read the first bit -- fade to black -- and pick up with the last chapter. While those who do enjoy a visit to the Smut Spa™ could carry on with the E rated stuff. 
> 
> *sigh* 
> 
> Unfortunately, there are fewer things in life *less* conducive to editing explicit works than plumbing disasters. Just... yeah. 
> 
> So, I'm giving all you lovely people the first bit of what I promised, and I'll get my head on straight for the next bit tomorrow. 
> 
> <3 <3 <3
> 
> A

It was nearly three when the staff finally came to tell them The Factory was closing. Gil still seemed awake, but Tarvek was smothering yawns. Agatha’s brain was full of warm cotton wool, her body half convinced it was late morning, while the other half was painfully aware that it had been awake for almost twenty four hours.

“Ugh, I didn’t mean to stay out so late,” she fretted, checking her phone. “Zeetha has to be asleep by now.”

“Didn’t she give you keys?” Gil asked, brow raised.

Agatha shook her head.

“Never mind,” Tarvek soothed, extricating himself from under Agatha’s legs. “Just let me settle up, and you can come home with us.”

“But, all my things —” she began, thinking longingly of comfortable pajamas and her toothbrush.

“We find something,” he assured her. “It won’t be the first time.”

Agatha was too tired to argue. Instead she let Gil bundle her into her coat and hat. With one arm through each of theirs, they piloted her out of the pub and safely the half dozen subway stops to their neighborhood.

The familiar scent of their apartment hit her as soon as the door opened. It smelled of herbal tea and coffee, of Gil’s cologne and Tarvek’s pomade. Her heart lurched, and she found herself blinking back tears for what seemed like the dozenth time that night.

Their place felt more like home than her own apartment. Not that she _had_ a home right now, what with her own flat sublet and her things in storage. She might have avoided that fate if she’d gone in with Zeetha, but Agatha liked her own space. However small. To think and tinker without distraction. Still, this place was home to most of her best memories of college and graduate school. Gil and Tarvek’d had the place since their first year, and she’d spent more time here than in any dorm room or apartment.

She slipped out of her boots, drinking in the familiar sights with fresh eyes. The built-in shelves she’d always envied, filled to bursting with books. The modest living room, still dominated by an ancient ‘L’ shaped couch that she and Zeetha had rescued from an alleyway. She smiled at the memory of the fit Tarvek had thrown when they’d brought it in. He’d only agreed to permit it residence in the apartment once they’d rented a steam cleaner and sanitized the thing. Her eyes panned over the familiar flat screen — similarly rescued by Gil and repaired by the three of them — and the impressive array of video game consoles. They’d spent more afternoons than she could remember sprawled out over the couch playing games until their eyes crossed.

Agatha turned abruptly and buried her face in a startled Gil’s chest “I’m so glad to be home.”

Gil wrapped her up and held her tight. “We’re glad you’re back,” he murmured.

“We missed you,” Tarvek’s voice came from behind her.

Reaching around, she fumbled for his arm and pulled him in against her back. He gave a soft ‘oof’ as he stumbled, but came without protest.

It was funny how much she’d missed this kind of thing while she was gone. The easy way Gil and Tarvek hugged her. Touched her. The way she could always turn to one or the other, and they never thought her weak for wanting closeness and comfort.

“I missed you both, too,” she mumbled into Gil’s collar. “I don’t think I realized how much until tonight.”

“Don’t tell me Europe was devoid of cute boys to give you all the hugs you wanted,” Tarvek teased.

“No idea.” She breathed out a huge sigh of relief, breath hitching on the exhale. “Was too busy to find out.”

“Good,” Gil grumbled, squeezing her tight enough to make her ribs creak.

Tugging Tarvek’s hand back to where her own rested around Gil’s waist, she replied, “It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. They weren’t _you_.”

It took a long time for Agatha to let them go. And even then, she had to admit that she didn’t want to. She wondered if she could contrive to fall asleep on top of both of them, just so she could have the luxury of their presence all night.

Eventually, it was physical discomfort that forced them apart. Agatha had been on her feet or on her rear for nearly an entire day. She was exhausted and still battling the last effects of the night’s revelry. She need out of her constricting clothes, _now_. And, a place to lie down soon after.

She followed Gil to his room on weary legs, holding out a hand to brace against the wall lest she stumble over her own feet. He rummaged in the closet for a moment.

“Here you go,” Gil passed over a pair of sweatpants.

The corner of her mouth twitched when she saw the worn, blue material. He’d cut these short for her the first time she’d slept over at their apartment more than seven years ago. For a moment, it was like she’d never been away. Agatha darted forward and kissed his cheek quickly and fled to the bathroom.

It was a relief to free herself from her jeans, and she slid into the sweatpants with a groan. In spite of Gil’s size they were still a little tight around the assets she had, while leaving space for those she did not.

A gentle knock on the door shook her out of her reflection. It was Tarvek with a spare toothbrush. He grinned to see her in the old, cut-off pants.

“So, tell me again why you aren’t just keeping clothes here? How long are you going to carry on stealing Gil’s?”

“As long as yours don’t fit me!” Agatha retorted. “But, I _am_ stealing your face lotion,” she warned and closed the door in his smiling face.

Gil was sprawled out on his bed, shirtless when she emerged. “In here,” he called, waving an arm at her to join him.

She had to admit he made an attractive picture, all long limbs and miles of bare skin. Somehow in four months, she’d forgotten just how tall he was. And built. Muscled enough that he strained the thighs of his own lounge pants, though they were cut to be loose.

Tarvek came up behind her, quiet as a cat. Startled, she tore her eyes away from Gil. Unfortunately, looking at Tarvek wasn’t much better. A loose, sleeveless shirt in a red so dark it nearly matched his hair only served to set off the width of his shoulders. His joggers, fitted as they were, only drew attention to the curve of his rear.

Agatha swallowed and shook her head slightly in an attempt to clear it. Unfortunately the fog — and the arousal — remained.

True, there had always been an attraction between them. From almost the first time she’d met Gil and Tarvek. But, usually she was better at remembering they were _friends_ , not romantic prospects.

“I was going to make a cup of tea. Anyone else want one?” Tarvek asked. He ran a gentle hand over her shoulder and down her back, pulling her into a half hug against his side. He’d left off his glasses, making him squint down adorably at her.

“You’ll be asleep before it’s done, won’t you?” he asked, eyes crinkling.

She started to protest, but her words were cut off by a yawn so wide it made her jaw crack. She grimaced at the feeling, and Tarvek snorted in amusement.

“Just make it for everyone?” Gil suggested. “If Agatha falls asleep, she falls asleep.”

Tarvek made a noise of assent and kissed the top of her head before transferring her into Gil’s arms.

She must have lost track of time, dozing against Gil’s shoulder, because the next thing she knew Tarvek was back. She blinked.

Gil’s eyes lit at the sight of the tray Tarvek carried. “Smells good,” he smiled up at the redhead. Tarvek handed Gil a mug and smiled back.

In that moment — that tiny exchange of glances — memory hit her like a brick.

_How could she have forgotten?_

They were together.

And, she’d nearly lost track of the fact in the joy of seeing her friends tonight. Gil and Tarvek hadn’t seemed much different. Hadn’t behaved any differently toward _her_. But here, _together_ in their apartment… Gil’s room… his _bed_ , she was suddenly unsure.

Did Tarvek sleep here now? Where would they want her to stay?

Would they _say_ something? About how they’d gotten together… and what it meant for the three of them? On the one hand, it felt like something she really needed to know. _Now_. On the other hand, she was so tired it was hard to think straight.

Agatha sat up, uncomfortable and unsure, trying to put a little space between herself and Gil so she could figure out what was going on… and winced as the wire of her bra pinched her side.

“You okay?” Gil inquired, voice muffled by his mug.

She wasn’t. Not by a long shot. This day had simply been _too_ much. Agatha was tired and confused, and she needed out of her damned underthings as badly as she’d needed out of those jeans. She fumbled around for the bra clasp, trying to manipulate it through her shirt.

“Need some help?” Gil offered.

“Ever the gentleman, Wulfenbach?” Tarvek muttered. And, Agatha was surprised to see him scowling as he passed her a mug.

Gil snorted and muttered something she didn’t quite catch. Something about ‘ _you wouldn’t jump at the chance_ ’.

She accepted the tea and breathed in the steam gratefully, savoring the calming fragrance. “Mmm, this is good,” Agatha hummed as she sipped. Then, the conversation caught up with her sluggish brain.

“Wait, what chance? What’s going on?” She caught Tarvek’s eye, but he only offered her a tiny smile and shook his head.

Deciding it — whatever it was — couldn’t be more important than her current predicament, Agatha turned her back to Gil, silently requesting his help. He fumbled vainly with the catch before sliding warm hands under her shirt and up her back.

He was evidently trying to be careful and considerate of her person, but the touch _tickled_. Agatha smothered a squeak into her tea.

Above her head Tarvek snorted, “Oh for heaven sake.” Placing one knee on the mattress, he reached around her, dislodged Gil’s fingers and smoothly popped the clasp of her bra with one hand.

“Show-off,” Gil grumbled.

Agatha suppressed a giggle and pushed her mug into Gil’s hands so she could wriggle out of her bra. She passed the garment to Tarvek and stretched happily, relishing the freedom from wires and straps.

“Better now?” Gil asked, shifting around and opening his arms to her again. Agatha nodded and scooted into the space between his folded legs and let him cradle her once more against his shoulder. Tarvek climbed up beside them, careful not to slosh his own drink. He settled cross-legged in front of them, knees to Gil’s shins, then lifted her feet into his lap. Sipping his tea, he massaged the ball of one foot idly with his free hand.

<>

Agatha lost track of time again, drinking and letting her mind drift. She was still confused. Still sure the three of them had a lot to talk about. But, she was increasingly too tired to care tonight.

She was hardly aware of dozing off until she heard an _‘oop’_ and someone caught her tipping mug.

“Come here, sweet. You’re falling asleep sitting up.” Gil stretched out on the comforter and beckoned her down next to him.

“Are you sure?” she asked, eyeing him and the bed critically. “I don’t want to be in the way.”

“You’re never in the way,” Tarvek reassured her as he got up to place their mugs on the dresser.

“Please?” Gil said quietly. His eyes were a deep honey color in the lamp light, wide and liquid and inviting.

She thought that perhaps she should protest further. But, the bed and Gil were too desirable a prospect to turn down. So, Agatha went. She let Gil arrange her against his front so he was spooned up behind her, a warm wall at her back, her head tucked under his chin.

“Tarvek, too.” She wiggled her fingers at the redhead, making him grin.

“I wouldn’t dream of keeping him from you,” Gil soothed.

Obediently Tarvek joined them, allowing Agatha to pull him closer and closer until she was squished between them with her face buried in Tarvek’s throat.

She hummed happily at the feeling of being surrounded. Everything was warm and comfortable. Agatha felt her body relaxing by degrees, melting into the bed. Gil and Tarvek murmured quietly to each other over her head. Tarvek’s mouth occasionally brushed her forehead and their breath ruffled her hair.

Languidly, she nuzzled into Tarvek’s neck. She could feel his pulse beating against the tip of her nose where it pressed under his chin. Without really thinking, she mouthed from Tarvek’s collarbone up to the edge of his jaw, chasing the pleasant sensation of soft skin under her lips.

He twitched, his conversation with Gil cutting off on something that sounded like part laugh, part moan.

“Hey,” Tarvek leaned back, brushing her hair off her cheeks in an attempt to see her face. His mouth was so close, _right there_ , and she wanted to kiss him more than anything else right now.

She didn’t know how Tarvek would feel about that though. Never mind how Gil might feel about it. Still, Gil was the one who had been cuddling her all night, hardly letting her out of his arms.

Maybe…

Ever so lightly, Agatha brushed her lips over Tarvek’s cheek, right at the corner of his mouth.

“ _Agatha_ ,” he breathed, so close that she could feel moisture condense on her skin. He kissed her cheek, over her nose to her other cheek, getting just as close to her mouth as she had to his.

It was delightful; soft and sensual.

And strangely unsatisfying.

She made a noise of frustration and leaned back as far as she could to see him properly. He looked oddly troubled. That little furrow that he always got when thinking hard was etched between his brows. Tarvek’s eyes flickered over her head.

“Gil?” he asked. She heard his voice crack and the click of his throat as he swallowed.

A moment passed. Some silent communication between them. Then, whatever he’d see in Gil’s face must have satisfied him, for Tarvek cupped her cheek in one cool hand and kissed her warmly on the mouth.

It was sweet. He kissed gently but with conviction, conveying his interest and enthusiasm clearly. She opened her mouth just a little, enough to taste the tip of his tongue and get lost in the silky wetness as they moved together.

Behind her, Gil shifted.

Agatha drew back from Tarvek and kissed the very tip of his nose, pulling a small smile from him.

Then she twisted around, trying to reach Gil as well. She couldn’t get very far given that her shoulder was blocked by the expanse of Gil’s chest. Nevertheless, she tilted her face up in invitation.

“You, too.”

“Me, too… what?” he asked and pressed up onto one elbow so he could see her better.

He was always so easy to read. Gil’s expression forever open and honest. Emotions worn on his sleeve. Now, his cheeks were flushed a lovely rose after watching her and Tarvek. Agatha snaked out a hand and reeled Gil in close so she could kiss him, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See ya'll tomorrow for the next installment!


	5. The Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Distinctly hot and bothered now, Agatha abandoned all pretense. She wasn’t positive where this was leading, but all the evidence seemed to point to one conclusion. She may not have words to describe this thing between them. Nor how it would change them. But, it was the three of them. _Together. _Agatha didn’t need words for that. There was nowhere else in the world she would rather be. And, if Gil and Tarvek wanted her there with them, then that’s precisely where she belonged.__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter that earns that E rating, so if you are not interested in the smut this is the time to bow out and rejoin us for the last chapter (#7).
> 
> If you're good with fairly vanilla smut between any combination of ladies and gentlemen, then this should be within your comfort zone.
> 
> The final "chapter" contains explanations of the various tags. You can go there if you'd like to know more about the "explicit sex" tag before choosing whether or not to read.
> 
> For those who don't want to read smut but want a very brief, sanitized version of events so you're clear on the last chapter, please jump down to the end notes.
> 
> Everyone else... welcome to A's Smut Spa. Complementary towels and lube are provided. Enjoy! <3

Agatha kept the kiss soft, very nearly chaste.Gil made a quiet sound and shifted to wrap one big hand around her neck, supporting her head as he gave in to the embrace.Agatha hummed happily against his lips, arching into the delicious feeling of his weight pressing her into the bed. 

Abruptly, Gil started back, eyes wide.Her heart skipped and even those few inches of separation felt like miles.

“Gil?” she asked.“Is everyth— ?” 

But, he wasn’t looking at her.He still cradled her neck carefully, but his eyes were on _Tarvek_. 

Emotions played over Gil’s features so fast.But, this time she couldn’t read them.Perhaps it was her exhausted, jet-lagged state. 

Or perhaps the emotions were not meant for her.

Then, Tarvek’s hands were on her hips, rolling her deftly over and into Gil.She allowed herself to be manhandled, though the impact of her chest against Gil’s forced a little huff of breath out of her lungs.Before she could wonder what was happening, Tarvek was pressing up against her back and Agatha was being wonderfully squashed between them again.

Wiggling, she managed to make just enough space to get a hand on Gil’s cheek and direct him down for further kisses.He kissed differently from Tarvek, a little harder, a little wetter, a little sloppier and yet just as wonderfully.Agatha worked valiantly to keep up with him, to match Gil’s fire with her own. 

When they finally broke apart, she was relieved to find that he was gasping quite as hard as she was. 

“That was—” Agatha began.

“— unbelievable.” Gil finished, nodding.

“I guess that means I shouldn’t tell you what it looked from here,” Tarvek snarked over her shoulder.“Like suc—”His words were cut off, becoming an unintelligible mumble as Gil slapped a palm lightly over his face. 

“Don’t _even_ ,” Gil growled.

A muffled, snorting sound came from the redhead.Agatha couldn’t be sure, but she thought he was laughing into Gil’s hand. 

Unable to help herself, Agatha giggled.“Honestly, you two are so ridiculous,” she laughed.

There was such freedom, a _lightness_ in being allowed to kiss them.Allowed to lean in and draw a line from Gil’s sternum to his mouth with her lips.Allowed to breathe in the scent of him, the last notes of cologne still lingering on his skin. 

It was _fun_. 

Sexy and stimulating and full of promise, yes.But, most of all being in bed with the two of them was _fun_. 

“This is fun,” she said giving voice to her thoughts and smiling into Gil’s neck.

“Just _fun_?” Tarvek asked, and Agatha could hear the mock pout in his voice.“I guess we need to work harder then, don’t you think?”

Gil appeared to take his statement as an instruction, because he tipped her chin up to his face applied himself zealously to kissing all the breath from her lungs. It was magnificent. She could feel the way his body thrummed with tension, pressed together as they were.Cupping his cheeks in both hands, Agatha gave as good as she got.

She was hardly aware of cool fingers sweeping her hair back from her face.A light rhythmic tugging suggested that Tarvek was braiding and tying it back.

Reluctantly easing away from Gil and reaching behind her to run a hand over his hip she asked, “What are you doing back there?”

“’S in the way,” he grumbled.He gave a final twisting pull.“There we go,” he sighed and pressed his mouth to her shoulder.Teeth worked delicately from there up to the muscles of her neck.Agatha squirmed. 

Gil claimed her mouth again, biting at her bottom lip.She twitched and groaned.

The more she fidgeted, the tighter they held her. 

Tarvek propped himself up on one arm so he could get a better angle to lavish kisses, nibbles and tiny licks that made her shudder delightfully from her temple to her collar.Gil held her waist in one hand, his grip only just this side of too tight, while his other arm served admirably as a head rest for her convenience in kissing him. 

Agatha was aware that she was becoming distinctly, well… _damp_.Now she came to realize it, she could feel both men’s arousal too, where Tarvek pressed close to her rear and Gil her thigh.Agatha wasn’t sure if she should feel pleased or not about that fact.Still, it was reassuring to find that she wasn’t the only one worked up by this new experiment in kissing.

A nip to her neck, harder than she expected… more a bite than anything, made her yelp and arch into Tarvek.Gil stuttered a curse as the movement forced her hips to press more firmly into his.Ignoring Gil’s predicament, Tarvek set his free hand carefully at her sternum and tipped her back so he could claim a searing kiss of his own.

Distinctly hot and bothered now, Agatha abandoned all pretense. 

She wasn’t positive where this was leading, but all the evidence seemed to point to one conclusion.She may not have words to describe this thing between them.Nor how it would change them.But, it was the three of them. _Together_.Agatha didn’t need words for that.There was nowhere else in the world she would rather be.And, if Gil and Tarvek wanted her here with them, then that’s precisely where she belonged.

Eagerly, she ran her hands over Gil’s chest, intent upon tracing every muscle, every inch of skin.He kissed her hungrily as she mapped out the delicate sweep of his neck and stomach and sides.Each time her fingers found a sensitive spot, he would moan or curse or growl.Agatha gloried in each and every sound, in her new-found power.

The only frustration to mar an otherwise incomparable experience was the fact that no one was getting their hands on _her._ All their attention — enthusiastic and delightful as it was — was being lavished on a very limited area of her person.Both Gil and Tarvek kissed like men who wanted more, but resolutely kept their hands confined to respectable parts of her body. 

It wouldn’t do. 

Evidently, she would have to take matters into her own hands.

Or theirs…

Er… 

Well…

She reached for Gil’s hand and pulled it up to cup her breast.He squeezed, almost like a reflex, then snatched his hand back.Agatha laughed, kissing haphazardly over his mouth and chin.“Don’t stop.I liked that.”She guided his hand back and happily swallowed his resulting groans. 

Evidently taking her request as an invitation, Tarvek slipped his fingers under the edge of her shirt.She yelped, startled, and lightly knocked foreheads with Gil. 

“What?” he blinked, confused. 

“Tarvek’s hands are _cold_ ,” she giggled, twitching away from teasing fingers. 

“Oh alright. _Fine_ ,” Tarvek huffed theatrically into the back of her neck, then slipped his hand into the pocket of her borrowed sweatpants.“Better?” he asked cheekily, tracing a line down her inner thigh through the cloth.

“Better,” she acknowledged. 

_Much_ better, actually.His touch was a tantalizing offer.Agatha’s hips pressed forward into his hand and back again almost without conscious thought.Tarvek groaned quietly into her hair, but didn’t stop. 

“Or…” Agatha began, then cut off as Tarvek rolled his hips against her rear.She thought she could feel the heat of his erection even through their clothes.Maybe his hands were so cold, because all his blood had been directed elsewhere? 

“You _could_ just put your hands on Gil.He’ll warm you up fast enough.”

“Oh sure, torment me just because I’m a furnace,” Gil grumbled.Agatha couldn’t help kissing the pout from his lips.

“But, tormenting you is such fun,” she wheedled.“That’s just your purpo—” but her words were cut off as Gil let out an inhuman shriek and jolted back. 

Tarvek guffawed loudly and unapologetically, his hand slipping away from Gil’s bare side as the other man rolled away. 

“Damn you!Those hands are like _ice_!” Gil yelled.He rubbed furiously at his abused skin.“I’ll get you for that.” 

Just as swiftly as he’d moved away, Gil was on them both, flipping Agatha onto her back as he crashed over her body in his effort to grab Tarvek’s tormenting hand and pin it to the mattress. 

“Fiend,” he growled. 

But, the heat in his voice wasn’t anger. 

Tarvek’s surprised laugh died away as he stared up at Gil. 

There was another beat wherein Agatha could have sworn they were communicating telepathically.Perhaps it made sense.They _did_ know each other better than anyone.Yet, this seemed new.The intensity in their faces…And, something else.Something almost like uncertainty… 

The atmosphere in the room tensed, and Agatha found she was holding her breath. 

So slowly it was almost impossible to see him move Gil leaned down, the muscles of his shoulders and back flexing with the effort, and pressed his lips to Tarvek’s.

Time froze. 

They were perfectly still. 

Gil holding himself suspended over both of them.Tarvek immobile under him.Agatha not daring to breathe. 

Then hesitantly, as though moving of its own accord, Tarvek’s arm rose.He stroked gently over Gil’s face — apparently unconcerned by the stubble that had so recently chafed Agatha’s cheeks and chin — and tangled his fingers in Gil’s wild hair.She watched as he used the leverage to tilt Gil’s head a few careful degrees.

Their lips moved slowly, almost tentatively, in the lightest of kisses until Gil — who appeared not to have been breathing at all — gasped and pulled away.

“Gil?”Tarvek’s voice cracked again, throat hitching around the word. 

“Damn,” Gil swore.He stared down at Tarvek.His eyes flicked over to Agatha before returning to the redhead.“Your hands are _cold!_ ” 

Abruptly the tension that had held them all suspended, broke.

Agatha snorted, rolling into Tarvek and giggling helplessly into his shoulder. 

Tarvek pressed one hand to his eyes, then burst into laughter.“That’s all you have to say, Wulfenbach?”He pushed ineffectually at Gil’s chest.“Really?”

With a groan, Gil heaved himself off the pair of them.“Nope.One more thing.Under the covers, both of you.And, no more _cold hands_!”

<>

Agatha went eagerly, burrowing into the blankets and coaxing Tarvek along with her. 

“Off,” she demanded tugging at his shirt, while simultaneously obstructing her own plans by locking their mouths together. 

Gil’s hands reached out for her, blind under the blankets.He found her hips, then her waist before slipping under her shirt.Agatha groaned her pleasure as his warmth soaked into her chilly skin.She loosened her grip on Tarvek and allowed Gil to draw her back against him, offering up her neck for his attention.

She hardly noticed the rustling sound of Tarvek stripping off his shirt.But, she was wonderfully aware of his body pressing in close again, his skin pebbling with goosebumps as she ran her fingers over his chest and sides.

Feeling rather overdressed, she wriggled free just long enough to strip off her own shirt.Ignoring Tarvek’s in-drawn breath and Gil’s bitten-off curse, she slid back under the covers and into the warm.She snuggled against Gil, tugging first on his arm and then on Tarvek’s waistband so they would hold her close. 

“Forget my hands,” Tarvek’s chest vibrated under her face where she nuzzled against him.“Your _nose_ is cold.”

“Then do something to warm me up,” she ordered from her spot between them.

Working in synchrony, Gil and Tarvek did just that. 

Gil cupped her breasts, squeezing gently while Tarvek — possibly to spare her his cold hands — ducked under the blankets and worshiped her with his mouth.Carefully, he worked one nipple then the other into a peak, alternately licking, sucking and flicking his tongue.Arching between them, Agatha let herself bask in the delirious feeling of their skin against her skin. 

When she was squirming and clutching desperately at Tarvek’s hair, he retreated to calm her with gentle touches while Gil stole away her gasping breaths.Together they wound her up then soothed her, building a cycle of pleasure that had her wire-taut and moaning. 

She was beyond wet.Her remaining clothes had grown distinctly damp, and she was aware of a rhythmic throbbing between her legs.Agatha shivered, stretching as her body reacted to the confusing combination of bone-deep fatigue and extreme arousal.Her heart hammered with the urgent need to get one — or preferably both — of them inside her.

“I need you, _now_.”Agatha kissed first Gil, then Tarvek _hard_.“Clothes off,” she ordered them both before ducking down to shimmy out of her borrowed sweatpants and underthings.

Rustling and the brush of Gil’s arm against hers made it clear that he had taken her direction to heart, but Tarvek didn’t move. 

“Um… Agatha?What are we—” he began. 

Emerging from under the blankets, victorious, and tossing her clothes out of the bed, Agatha rolled on her side to face him.

“What is it?” she asked trying to make sense of his uncertainty.

Dark eyes confused he asked, “Ah… I mean, are we… Do you want—?”

The earnestness in his voice touched her heart.She shook her head, smiling.It was right and easy to reach out.Stroke over his flushed cheek.Feel the heat just under the surface of his skin. 

“Of course I want.”

As though aware of the depth of feeling swelling inside her chest and feeling it with her, Gil slid up behind her, hand coming to rest on her hip.Agatha smiled over her shoulder at him.

“You two mean the world to me.Of _course_ I want this.The three of us.”

Tarvek looked stunned for a moment. 

Then, Agatha hardly had time to register the shift in his expression before his mouth was pressed to hers.She followed happily as he tugged her down on top of him.His kisses, previously so sweet and gentle, turned hot and hungry.Agatha poured all her desire into their kissing, claiming control from him before returning it and submitting to his ravishment.

Gil’s grip on her grew tighter and tighter, but he made no protest at Tarvek getting his turn.Instead he busied himself kissing across the line of her shoulders, scraping too-sharp teeth carefully down the back of her neck.

It didn’t take long for her patience to snap.Wrenching herself away from them and mourning the loss, Agatha scooted under the blankets and down the length of Tarvek’s body, catching his waistband and drawing his remaining clothes away.Whatever reservations he might have had must have been laid aside, because he lifted his hips willingly to let her strip him.

And, then he was bare under her hands.

Agatha stroked up Tarvek’s calves to his thighs, exploring.She really _did_ appreciate the feeling of pressing her fingers into hard muscle.Scooting forward just a little, she nosed her way up the inside of one thigh. 

Somewhere above her Tarvek swore loudly… then giggled.An incongruous combination. 

Under the blankets, Agatha laughed.“What?” she asked innocently. 

“It tickles, but it’s… _nhhh_ … good.” 

Grinning in the dark, she petted him soothingly until straining muscles relaxed.She gave him a moment to breathe, then returned to her investigations.Agatha made her way all the way up one thigh, stopping just short of where he probably wanted her. 

That was alright.Exploring was _fun_. 

And, she intended to have all the fun she wanted. 

Tarvek would just have to lay there and take it.

Switching to the other leg, she nibbled from his knee to the crease of his hip.Pausing, sure Tarvek could feel her hot breath on his most sensitive anatomy, Agatha estimated the distance to her target. 

Then, she bit down _hard_ where his quadriceps tapered into the joint. 

Tarvek _yelled_. 

His hands flew down and caught her head under the blankets.

 _“Tarvek!?”_ Poor Gil actually sounded worried.

Although Tarvek gripped her tightly, Agatha could _just_ reach with her tongue to lick the skin she’d bitten. 

At once, his body arched up into her mouth as he moaned almost pornographically.

She felt her face flush and heat fizzed satisfyingly in her middle. 

“You two are _killing_ me!” Gil grumbled.

Agatha supposed it _was_ rather unfair of her to deny Gil the sight of Tarvek being teased.Then again, she was happy to make this part about _her_. 

But, the two took matters into their own hands.Reaching beneath the blankets to cup her chin and make her pause, Tarvek threw back the covers.Gil kicked them to the foot of the bed. 

In the low light of Gil’s bedroom, Agatha got her first good look at Tarvek.She’d seen him in only his underthings around the apartment from time to time over the years.Usually the sight of her sent him yelping into his room for proper clothes.And she’d had the privilege of an eyeful of him in rather minimalist swimwear on vacation one year. 

But, this was her first sight of him stretched out like a feast, flushed and gloriously nude.He was a nice size, enough that she’d feel that heavenly fullness but no distress.He even had a lovely tip-tilt that she suspected would hit all the right places. 

She looked up and grinned to find Tarvek propped up on his elbows, eyes wide and fixed on her.She held his gaze and breathed out warm air on his overheated skin.Hips rolling automatically in response to even that tiny bit of simulation, Tarvek groaned.He bit down on his lip, but couldn’t quite manage to stifle his sounds of frustration. 

Agatha took advantage of his distraction to glance at Gil.His entire face was scarlet, flushed down his neck to his chest.He’d chosen to retain his underwear — _a last bastion of dignity? a final defense? —_ which was a shame.Nevertheless he was a _sight_ , muscles so defined they might have been etched there with a sculptor’s chisel. 

She couldn’t wait to get her hands back on him.And her mouth.But, for the moment… 

<>

Agatha stroked Tarvek’s thighs comfortingly until he relaxed and looked back down at her.Stretching out the moment, letting the tension build she held his eyes. 

He fumbled over the sheets before finding Gil’s forearm and gripping so hard Gil’s skin and Tarvek’s knuckles went white.

She leaned close and slowly licked a broad, wet stripe up his length from base to tip. 

He _broke_.

With a sound like almost like a sob, he fell back.With each touch of her lips and tongue, his voice grew more desperate.And, he was clearly losing the battle to remain still.Agatha reached for Gil’s hand and lifted it onto Tarvek’s hip, pressing down.When she finally slid him into her mouth, Tarvek jerked hard biting back a curse. 

She sucked.

He swore and pleaded. 

His fair skin heated under her hands, a light sheen of sweat breaking out.He fought and thrashed, but Gil’s hand kept him pinned easily to the bed. 

Happily losing track of time, she luxuriated in her exploration of him.Smooth skin and firm flesh was indulgent against her lips.Her tongue drew lovely, straining notes from his throat, and an occasional sound from Gil. 

It was heady, addicting stuff being the center of their attention.

Until Tarvek’s voice, broken and wretched finally cut through the haze. 

“ _Agatha._ ” 

He was gasping, and she was shocked to find a trail of tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. 

Suddenly worried, Agatha moved up his body hushing and murmuring to him, until she could kiss his cheeks and taste the salt there.One arm wrapped around her and clutched her desperately to his side. 

She whispered reassurances into his skin until Tarvek calmed and finally found his voice, “I’m okay.‘M okay.Just been a long day, ’s all.” 

Agatha hummed and nuzzled his temple, unsure how to answer or what to do next. 

Movement attracted her attention: Gil reaching out and cupping her cheek.Agatha took comfort from his composed expression.Whatever was making Tarvek so vulnerable was evidently no surprise to Gil.

She raised an eyebrow at him and flicked her eyes to Tarvek.

Gil’s head tipped up a fraction in acknowledgement. _‘Nightmare’_ he mouthed silently to her. 

_Oh._

Agatha leaned down and kissed Tarvek gently, trying to put all her affection and sympathy into it.He opened easily, allowing her to soothe him with the slow movement of lips and tongue. 

“Why do I feel like you’re trying to apologize for something?” he finally asked, voice rough and expression tender.

She just shook her head and stroked his face, tracing the lines of his cheekbones and jaw.

Tarvek frowned.“Don’t you dare apologize for _this_ , for…” — his mouth twitched — “blowing my mind.”

A muffled snorting quickly became a laugh as Gil tried and failed to contain his mirth.“Blew something alright,” he choked out, eyes twinkling.

“I was trying to be polite,” Tarvek protested, shoving at Gil’s shoulder. 

Heart lightening, Agatha laughed.“I think we left propriety behind a while ago, don’t you?”

“Mmm, definitely!”Gil agreed and leaned over Tarvek to kiss her. 

A little moan and shudder from Tarvek made it clear than he enjoyed the front-row seat to their kissing.Agatha licked Gil’s bottom lip suggestively, angling to give the redhead the best possible view of tangling tongues and nipping teeth. 

Tarvek’s hand, now very warm indeed, slid down her back to cup her rear.She shifted to give him more territory and moaned happily into Gil’s mouth.A finger traced around the edge of one cheek, making her shiver with goosebumps all down one side. 

Tearing herself away from Gil, she asked, “Does this mean we can get back to the fun?”

“Fun?What fun?”Tarvek’s thumb wandered around to the front of her hip and traced circles there, right under the bone.“Were we having fun?I seem to recall be the victim here…”

Agatha huffed in disbelief as Gil snorted. 

“Well, I see you’re back to your cocky self,” he observed dryly.“Damn cock te— ” but he didn’t manage to get the words out.Instead Tarvek grabbed him roughly by the neck and hauled him bodily down into a bruising kiss. 

Gil’s pupils were shot when they broke apart, and the hand he still rested on Tarvek’s waist was gripping so hard his fingernails dug into the other man’s skin. 

Tarvek didn’t seem to notice.

Agatha gave them a moment, then cleared her throat ostentatiously.Two pairs of eyes snapped to her. 

“You two are trouble,” she observed.“And, I think fun sounds very _fun_.”In one movement, she threw a leg over Tarvek’s waist and carefully rolled her hips so she slid slick and easy over the length of him. 

“Oh _fuck_ ,” Gil observed, stunned.

“Precisely,” she winked cheekily at him before leaning down and kissing Tarvek’s open, shocked mouth. 

Tarvek caught her face in his hands and eased them back until just their foreheads rested together. 

_“Please?”_

The single word — the _plea_ — was devastating. 

Her chest ached sharply.The request, vulnerable in its desperation, slicing past skin and muscle and bone to lance straight into her heart. 

Agatha tried and failed to find her own words to reply.But there were no words to express how much she wanted this… or the rightness of it… or how badly she needed to give Tarvek everything, _anything_ he asked for. 

Throat tight, she nodded and kissed him, savoring the taste of their desire.

Then, canting her hips to catch his tip right at her entrance, Agatha sat up, got her knees positioned on either side of Tarvek’s waist and paused.

He reached up to cradle her face.The affection in his gaze was almost overwhelming.She kissed his palm, needing to find some way to express the surfeit of emotions that swelled up inside her.Then, placing a hand on Gil’s hip for comfort and balance, she flexed…

Tarvek’s breath caught.Gil’s gaze flitted rapidly between them. 

Agatha held the moment. 

A beat. 

Two.

She sank down. 

<>

Three voices groaned in unison. 

Truly, Agatha would have been hard pressed to discern her pleasure from the sound that forced its way from Tarvek’s chest or the identical one that punched out of Gil. 

Overwhelmed, Tarvek grabbed for her hips.He held onto her hard enough to _bruise_ as though the simple act of taking him in might be all he needed to find his climax.Agatha leaned down and pressed kisses to his cheeks and forehead.After a moment, his breathing eased.He nodded, and she pushed herself up again. 

Letting her eyes drift closed, she tried a few, slow strokes, feeling out the angle where he’d hit her just right.It was good, really good.He felt _fantastic_. 

Beside them, Gil cursed softly.His gaze was riveted on her, flickering from her face to her breasts to her hips where she sat astride Tarvek. 

“Why are you all the way over there, silly?”She smiled and twiddled her fingers at him.“You’re too far away.”

He caught her hand, squeezing like a drowning man clinging to his only lifeline.“ _Agatha,_ ” he breathed, and she found she loved the reverent way her name fell from his lips. 

“Come here,” she tugged on his hand, placing it at her waist and forcing Gil up to his knees, straddling Tarvek’s legs behind her. 

Below them, Tarvek had his eyes squeezed tightly shut as he murmured a litany of, _“oh god… oh god… oh god”_ like believer at prayer.

Agatha couldn’t resist swooping down one more time to kiss him, smiling into his face.

Then she straightened and eased into a luxurious, rolling rhythm.This was too amazing an experience to rush, and Agatha meant to draw out and enjoy every moment of it.With a little experimentation, she found a pace and position that kept her stimulated without driving Tarvek too close to the edge. 

Gil was a bulwark at her back, warm and solid.Agatha got the sense that he was unsure of what to do, where to put his hands… how what was between her and Tarvek involved _him_.And yet, she realized, the entire scenario would have felt wrong without him.She leaned into his chest, tipping her head back to kiss under his chin, and guided his hands around her waist.

Tarvek made a quiet, pained noise.“Gorgeous,” he breathed.“My _god_ , you…”Words deserted him as Gil caressed her neck, her breasts, down to her navel. 

Anchoring his own hands at her hips and stroking the skin there, Tarvek arched up to meet each downward slide with a little punching thrust. 

“ _Tarvek!”_ she gasped, jaw going slack as they slid apart, then met with devastating, glorious impact.“Oh my god, that’s so _good_.”And, it was. 

It truly _was_.

It also wasn’t going to be enough.Agatha licked two fingers and painted wetness just above where she and Tarvek were joined.Working them side-to-side rapidly had her gasping and straining, clenching down on him hard enough to make Tarvek grunt softly with effort as he helped her move. 

It was better, _so much better._ But, it was also a lot to control.It was hard to focus on her own pleasure and control her legs, the angle of her hips and the pace of her fingers.

Gil’s big, warm hand slid down her arm, stopping just shy of where her fingers stroked.“Show me?” he asked low in her ear. 

“Oh _damn_ ,” Tarvek breathed.Agatha couldn’t be bothered to see what had him sounding breathless, but over her shoulder Gil spoke.

“Enjoying the view?” he rumbled, sounding amused.

Agatha moaned softly at the words.She _must_ look a sight — held between the two of them — seeking, _reaching_ for the pleasure all three of them were working toward.It was so close, but capricious.Only just out of reach.

Tarvek filled her perfectly. _That_ was exactly as she needed it, but after a moment she started to feel dry under Gil’s fingers.She winced as the friction grew harsh and stilled his hand with hers.Ordinarily she’d have…

“Oh,” Gil hummed briefly, as though realizing.He kissed her neck, then pushed firmly against her back encouraging her down to Tarvek’s chest.Leaning over both of them and probably crushing poor Tarvek under their combined weight, Gil rummaged in the bedside table.When he finally resettled them all, Gil pressed a bottle into her hand. 

“Here.This _is_ what you need, right?”

Agatha glanced at the label and laughed.“ _Genius_ ,” she said with feeling, twisting around to reward Gil with a kiss.

“Wha—” Tarvek began and captured her hand so he could see for himself.Agatha turned back to him in time to see Tarvek flush deep crimson, an impressive feat as his cheeks were already red with exertion.“Oh my god, I’m going to…” however, he didn’t finish the threat, just threw an arm over his eyes in embarrassment and whined. 

It was rather sweet.Only _Tarvek_ could managed to feel embarrassed about Gil rummaging for his lubricant… even while she perched on his hips with him buried deep inside.

The first touch of Gil’s slick fingers was such a relief, Agatha felt her knees go weak.She shuddered as her entire body relaxed into Gil.Only dimly aware that perhaps she ought to be thinking of Tarvek in addition to herself, Agatha closed her eyes and basked in their attention.Gil’s fingers built sizzling heat between her legs.The tiny rolls of Tarvek’s hips only served to amplify the sensation.

“Love…You look amazing.You _are_ amazing. _Perfect_.”Tarvek’s words reached her brain as though traveling through honey.She felt him sit up to kiss her, though all she could do was pant against his mouth. 

She followed his warmth, blindly searching for him as he lay back.Miraculously, Gil remained with her, his fingers working her steadily.Agatha braced herself on her arms.Her legs burned with exertion and still her peak was just out of reach.Sweat beaded up on her temples, and she could feel more trickle down her spine.

“I need…” she gasped and slapped Tarvek’s chest lightly, unable to get the words out. 

“Oh!”Wonderful, _brilliant_ man that he was, Tarvek seemed to intuit her meaning.“Stay just like that,” he soothed.“I’ve got you.”Bracing his shoulders and heels, he thrust up _hard_. 

“Oh my god!”The words burst out of her as the stroke sparked fierce, hot pleasure in her center.“More…oh… _more_ …yeah, _harder._ ”

Tarvek obliged.

He drove up into her, each peak building the fire inside.It was so good.Better than good.It was _perfection,_ driving her hard toward a pitch of urgency that made her whole body shake.If it weren’t for Gil’s and Tarvek’s hands bracing her, Agatha was sure she wouldn’t have been able to hold herself up. 

She was hardly aware of the refrain of _“oh… oh… oh…”_ coming from her throat, the sounds not so much words as much as desperate exhalation.Climax rushed toward her, inevitable and shattering.

At once, her whole body went rigid.For one breathless moment she clung to the precipice.Then the feeling of tension snapped, and she arched forward clenching down hard as she cried out. 

She could feel herself pulsing around Tarvek and under Gil’s fingers as he carefully slowed his strokes.Then, all at once her arms gave out, and she collapsed on top of Tarvek. 

Agatha lay against his chest as they breathed together.Under her cheek, his heart hammered, entire body taut even as he stroked gently over her sides, her hips, her hair.

Before she could properly catch her breath, Agatha felt Gil’s warmth at her back.He bent over, kissing up her spine evidently unbothered by the perspiration that clung to her skin.Wisps of his hair and the scrape of stubble combined to make a bewildering but oddly enticing counterpoint to the softness of his lips.

Agatha squirmed a little, trying to look back at him.Under her, Tarvek bit back a curse.His hips rolled up, a reflex response to her movement.

“Come on, sweet.Never say you’re going to leave him hanging?That would be too cruel.”Gil coaxed, breath hot on her ear.

“Fu— fuck you, Wulfenbach,” Tarvek gasped, back arching as he breathed hard through his nose.

Gil pressed his face into her shoulder to smother his laugh, but graciously forebore to reply.

Truly, Tarvek was a vision in his desperation.His hair lay loose, spilling ink-dark over the pillow.His brows were knit, though in pain or concentration Agatha did not know.Gil was right, it _would_ be cruel to deny him, not that she’d ever considered doing so.

“Sorry.Sorry.I got you,” unthinkingly echoing his words, she kissed him softly and straightened up. 

Tarvek _moaned_ as she sank back down onto him — a yearning, uninhibited sound she could never have imagined.Agatha shivered, strangely chilly inside while her skin was suddenly hot all over.She wanted nothing more than to draw more of that beautiful music from him. 

Certainly Agatha was exhausted, but this — _Tarvek_ — would always be worth the effort.

“Gil?Help me?”The words had hardly left her lips before Gil was sliding warm palms underneath her to cup her rear and help lift her up.Agatha leaned back into his chest and reached an arm around to the nape of his neck, angling her mouth so she could offer that in recompense for his efforts. 

Gil growled, sharp teeth nipping her lips delightfully as he helped her move. 

Beneath them Tarvek gasped his relief at the renewed stimulation.It wasn’t precisely comfortable so soon after her own climax.But, she was plenty slick and the sensation wasn’t so overwhelming that she couldn’t continue. 

With Gil taking part of her weight and keeping her steady on shaking legs, Agatha rode Tarvek swift and steady until with a muffled yell, he grabbed her hips and met her descent in one final upward thrust. 

Agatha tore herself away from Gil’s kisses to look down and was rewarded with the sight of Tarvek’s face — an exquisite portrait of desperately pinched brows and parted lips — as he reached his peak in silence.

<>

Agatha let Tarvek pull her back down into his arms, holding him tightly as his breathing and heart rate returned to normal.She listened to the beats slow, the thudding under her cheek fading.She could easily have fallen asleep there, splayed on top of him.But, they still had Gil to think of.

“Come on,” she coaxed gently, kissing Tarvek’s cheek, his forehead, his temple.“We’re neglecting Gil.”

“Not that I’d ever object to the attention, but take your time,” Gil said, voice full of affection.He pressed a kiss to Agatha’s shoulder. 

“Nope.Up now.If we don’t carry on, I’m going to fall asleep and that would be a _crime._ ”

Tarvek made a sad, little noise and tried to hold her tighter. 

She giggled and peppered his face with kisses until he was forced to release her to fend off the tickling.With one last kiss to the tip of his nose, she sat up, easing carefully off him.Trying to coordinate her legs to move from Tarvek’s lap was harder.They shook and she fumbled obliging Gil to catch her by the waist and help her ease down to the sheets between them. 

It was a relief to rest for a moment.Agatha stretched her legs, grimacing as the muscles in her thighs protested. 

“Sore?” Gil asked quietly.

Instead of answering such a foolish question, Agatha stuck her tongue out at him. 

Quick as a wink, he caught her chin and kissed her.It was a silly thing — her mouth not at all configured for kissing — and made them both laugh. 

“Here, help me up.I want you in the middle,” she instructed.The flex of his arms and abdominal muscles was a beautiful sight as he helped her.She shoved him over, up against Tarvek, who turned automatically on his side and buried his face in Gil’s shoulder. 

“G’me min’t,” he muttered, flapping a hand at them before letting the dead weight of his arm fall on Gil’s chest. 

Agatha and Gil exchanged wide-eyed looks, then dissolved in a fit of laughter. 

“Sorry,” she apologized, wiping her eyes and brushing a gentle hand over Tarvek’s head. 

Gil grinned at her bemusement.“Whatever will we do in the mean time?” he mused, winking at her.

“Right?” she nodded, playing along.“However will we entertain ourselves?”

Gil made his views clear by drawing her in for more warm, lazy kisses. 

“That’s good,” Agatha agreed, when they separated.“I did have other ideas, though.Tit for tat… quid pro quo, you might say.”She waggled her eyebrows suggestively at him. 

Eyes wide, Gil swallowed.

She cast an appraising look up and down the length of his body and playfully walked her fingers down his chest and stomach to pluck at the waistband of his underwear. 

“These.Need.To.Go.” she ordered, emphasizing each word with a snap of elastic.

He nodded vehemently until a particularly vigorous movement earned them a protest from the dozing Tarvek. 

Agatha laughed behind her hand and arranged matters herself, pleased to toss the final article of clothing out of the bed with a careless flick.Running an appreciative hand up one thigh to his stomach, she considered: Tarvek was right about _‘wall of muscle.’_ Tarvek himself was fit.But, there was still just a touch softness to his physique. _Gil_ was a built like a professional athlete.He looked _cast_ — as though from bronze — or _cut_ — as if from marble — like a statue.

He shivered under her fingertips, and the look he fixed on her was uncertain. _Was it remotely possible that Gil didn’t realize how absurdly attractive he was?_ she thought.It _would_ be just like him to be oblivious.But, surely he owned a mirror…

Smiling, Agatha stretched out atop him and kissed him soundly.“Gorgeous,” she whispered.His lips twitched. 

“Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?” Gil inquired.But, the happiness was back in his eyes now.

“Any time you like,” she replied, impishly.

Teasing, she trailed kisses from his lips down his jaw, across the expanse of his front until she could rest her head on his stomach.It was an easy position from which to get her hand and mouth on him. 

They were much of a size, the two men.She hadn’t seen them both erect at once, and it really wasn’t _done_ to compare, but if pressed, she suspected Gil had an edge in girth and Tarvek in length.

The moment Agatha’s mouth touched him, Gil’s hand flew down to her head. 

She worked him lazily, teasing with her tongue and fondling with her free hand.Gil was far quieter than Tarvek, but his hand never rested.He toyed with her hair, stroked down her neck, trailed over her shoulder and her breast.And, Agatha found she could read what he enjoyed in the pauses, the little twitches of his fingers or the way he jumped involuntarily against her lips. 

Her mind went a little hazy as she relaxed into their unhurried touches.She wasn’t trying to work him up.It was more like passing pleasure between them.

At some point in her ministrations, Tarvek came out of his doze.She heard him curl up, pillowing his head on his arm and whispering to Gil.Agatha wondered idly if it were sweet nothings or filth that he poured into Gil’s ear.Either way, Gil seemed to enjoy it.

“Come up here?” Gil asked at long last.“I really want to kiss you.”

Agatha twisted around to look at him.“What?Tarvek’s kisses not good enough for you?” she asked, biting her lip and fluttering her lashes at him coquettishly. 

Gil flushed, “Ah…”

Taking pity on him, she moved up to drape over his side and indulge his request. 

“I’m ready if you are,” she murmured against his mouth. 

“You really…?” he asked, pulling back to look at her, his expression adorably eager and earnest.“It’s only that I know it’s late.And, I didn’t know if you’d be up for…”

“I think it’s _you_ who has to be _up_ for it,” Agatha teased. 

Gil blushed.

“I _am_ tired, so you’ll have to do the work.But, yes.I definitely want to.”

The scorching kiss he gave her was ample reply.

Agatha urged him up and took his place, settling in with her head in the hollow of Tarvek’s shoulder.Tarvek brushed loose wisps of hair tenderly from her face and kissed her forehead. 

“If you have that…” she began, but Gil was already nodding, bottle in his hands.

He slid between her knees, careful of her sore legs and arranged them until he could slide in easily.He was wonderfully gentle and considerate of her comfort.They took their time, Gil sinking in by degrees and kissing slowly as he worked them together. 

“Feel okay?” he asked after a long moment, face creased with effort. 

Humming her acknowledgement, Agatha delivered a brisk slap to his hip.Gil gave a surprised little huffing laugh and thrust in.She petted over his chest and sides, letting him find a rhythm he liked.She contented herself exchanging kisses with him and Tarvek, until Gil drew her attention fully back on him. 

“I’d really like to— that is… can you come again?Do you want to try?”He had already been flushed from exertion, but his face grew an even deeper red.“I just really want to make it—,” he stuttered to a halt, looking mortified.

It was sweet.And adorable.And thoughtful.And perfectly _Gil_. 

Agatha was quite happy with where she was, but she could understand that this was about Gil’s feelings, too.His generosity, certainly.Perhaps also his pride.

“We can try,” she replied.“Here, put my legs up over your arms.”The angle was almost invariably better than lying flat.The first thrust sent a promising wave of heat through her.A dozen strokes in and she was moaning at the apex of each one.Perhaps he’d been paying attention earlier, but Gil moved with easy fluidly to give her the pace and force she needed.

“Good?”The question was breathed into her neck. 

Agatha groaned in assent and turned to press her face into Gil’s shoulder. 

She hardly noticed Tarvek fumbling for the lube until his hand touched her lower belly.“May I?” he murmured, lips at her temple. 

She only just had time to gasp out a “please” before the feeling of burning heat in her core _doubled_. 

Positions now reversed, they worked her up.Higher and higher.It was harder, took longer, to find the elusive threads of her peak now.By the time they did, Gil’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut.He was visibly at the edge of his control and endurance.Every thrust forced a quiet grunt of effort from him. 

Her own urgency began to reaching a fever pitch. _“So close… so close… so close…”_ she clutched Gil’s side with one hand, trying to give him the strength to hold on.With the other, she fumbled for Tarvek’s fingers, unable even to remember what words could be used to ask for what she needed. 

There was one awful moment of frustration as their paces clashed.Like two waves, meeting and cancelling each other out.The pleasure vanished and she hissed in discomfort.Then Tarvek’s hand went limp under hers, giving her control.She pressed hard and moved them together.The pleasure that had disappeared, redoubled and slammed back into her.

Agatha yelled and clutched at Gil as they raced together to a climax.Gil’s movement juddered to a halt just as she peaked, arching into him so hard her stomach muscles screamed. 

For a moment they froze.In a tableau of release; a triptych of pleasure. 

Then, Agatha collapsed back against Tarvek’s supporting arm.

And, Gil collapsed on top of her, gasping for breath and burying his face in her neck. 

Automatically, she wrapped her legs around his hips and cradled him, rubbing long strokes up and down his back.Together they panted, all hot breath and heaving chests.It was hard to expand her lungs far enough to get the oxygen she needed with Gil’s weight crushing her into the mattress.

Beside her Tarvek laughed, a little puff of air against her cheek. 

“Be nice,” Agatha chided, lightheaded and breathless.“Gil _did_ do most of the work.And, now you’re just a big, worn-out teddy bear, aren’t you?” she said affectionately to him, kissing his sweat-damp shoulder.

Face still hidden, Gil made a noise of agreement and nodded.

“I didn’t say a thing,” Tarvek protested, though there was no heat to the words as he nuzzled her cheek.

It was a sweet, comfortable moment.Gil a heavy weight on top of her, and Tarvek a toasty line along one side. 

Before his weight could grow oppressive, Gil heaved himself up and off her before flopping down on his back and lifting one arm in invitation to cuddle. 

<>

Time passed and Agatha drifted, both more weary and more satisfied than she could ever remember being.It should have been uncomfortable, the three of them pressed together, damp and warm.Instead it was a relief to lay sprawled over Gil’s side with her head in the hollow of his shoulder.Tarvek spooned up behind her, one long arm reaching over her waist and resting on Gil’s stomach. 

Just _this —_ more even than the sex — leeched stress from her body.Agatha felt happier than she’d been in ages.Sore muscles and sweat-cooled skin were nothing compared to the sheer relief of finally being back where she belonged.

She roused from yet another doze when Gil shifted, inching away and obviously intent upon getting up for something.Whatever it was couldn’t possibly be more important than serving as her pillow, she thought sleepily.Agatha clutched at him automatically trying to keep him in place.

“Shhh, it’s okay,” he whispered, offering a pillow in compensation for her loss.It was a poor substitute, and she snuffled into it sadly wishing it was warm skin not cool cloth.

“Gil?”Tarvek rolled over.She whined as a rush of cool air hit her back, her sleep-addled mind unsure why her _perfect_ rest was being disturbed by the abrupt departure of her _perfect_ pillow and _perfect_ blanket!

“Oh!Sorry love,” Tarvek murmured, turning back and kissing her shoulder.He pulled a blanket up over her.“Be right back.Don’t move.”She grumbled softly and burrowed under the cover.

There was a rustling as he slid out of bed and followed Gil into the hall.She could hear the rumble of their voices as they spoke quietly.The sound was low and comforting, a reassurance that they were close by.Sleep was so near now, dulling her senses, leaving her warm and fuzzy.

After an indeterminate time, Gil’s weight sank back onto the bed next to her.“The bathroom is free if you want to wash up,” he offered quietly.“But, I suspect you don’t want to move.”He smiled down at her, expression achingly tender and brushed a finger over her temple as though he couldn’t live without touching her.

Agatha inch-wormed the short distance between them so she could press her nose into his thigh.“N’ getting up,” she grumbled. 

Chuckling softly, Gil rubbed her back.“All right.Well, I brought this for you.”

 _This_ turned out to be a warm, wet washcloth and a hand towel.He proffered them with a blush as though simultaneously embarrassed and delighted about the circumstances that necessitated their use and unsure how to feel about his own role in said circumstances.

Then, he turned away in search of clothes, giving her a moment of privacy to clean up.It was a shame she was so tired, otherwise the sight of him walking around stark naked would have been a treat.Even — or perhaps especially — after the evening’s activities. 

“Do you—?” Gil started to ask, coming back and holding up her discarded clothes.He laughed when instead of answering the unspoken question, she simply lobbed the balled-up towels in his direction and dove back under the blankets.

She was huddled there, trying to create enough warmth for three until Gil and Tarvek slipped back in on either side of her. 

The last things she remembered were gentle hands arranging her. 

Twin kisses pressed to her cheeks.

Two heartbeats, matching hers.

The rise of Gils’ chest.

Tarvek’s breath.

Sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you see it?
> 
> *Do* you?
> 
> Come yell at me in the comments... 
> 
> <3 <3 <3
> 
> * * *
> 
> Chapter Summary:  
> Agatha, Gil and Tarvek leave The Factory late. Rather than disturb Zeetha, Agatha accepts Gil and Tarvek's invitation to stay with them. Late night tea and snuggling quickly turns into kissing. Cue 8K of self-indulgent smut featuring threesome sex between Agatha and both boys.


	6. The Proof

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agatha woke for the last time to a noise from the hall. The space in front of her was empty, but still warm. Gil’s door opened soundlessly, and Tarvek slipped back in clad only his joggers, hair loose around his shoulders. His eyes crinkled when he saw Agatha was awake. 
> 
> “Hey,” he said, coming to sit next to her on the bed. Damp fingers brushed lightly over her face. 
> 
> “Morning,” she whispered, reaching out an arm to press against his thigh. At her back, Gil whined at the change in position. He hitched one heavy leg up, draped it over hers and pinned her down. A blunt nose pressed into her hair. Gil snuffled sadly and tightened the arm about her waist. 
> 
> A giggle bubbled up in Agatha’s chest. She made the mistake of glancing up at Tarvek. His eyes were wide with amusement, gleaming a rich coffee-brown in the morning light. He pressed a hand over his mouth, and the bed vibrated as he tried to smother his laughter. 
> 
> Agatha turned and pressed her face into the pillow as she shook with suppressed mirth. Gil whined again and nosed at the back of her neck as though trying to tell her to quiet down and go back to sleep. He was like some kind of large, snuggly octopus. Or perhaps a koala.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last not-chapter with the tag notes has been updated! If you need to know what you're in for, please go check that out.
> 
> This chapter is a sucker-punch, but there is a hopeful ending. 
> 
> I'd say sorry, but that would be a lie.
> 
> Enjoy!

Agatha drifted, emerging into consciousness by degrees. 

For a long time she floated in a liminal space between sleeping and waking.Heavy and warm.

She basked in the feeling of _rightness_.Of _completeness_.In the feeling of two pairs of lungs inhaling and exhaling with hers.Three hearts moving in synchrony.

<>

She woke again as hands rearranged her body.A soft voice coaxed her over, then back down to rest her head on a different, warm chest.

Gil was a heater at her back, warming her from crown to soles.Tarvek’s heart beat comfortingly under her ear.

<>

Agatha woke for the last time to a noise from the hall.The space in front of her was empty, but still warm.Gil’s door opened soundlessly, and Tarvek slipped back in clad only his joggers, hair loose around his shoulders.His eyes crinkled when he saw Agatha was awake.

“Hey,” he said, coming to sit next to her on the bed.Damp fingers brushed lightly over her face. 

He was beautiful like this.Bright eyes and smiling lips, joy in his entire aspect.Luminous and weightless in a way Agatha had never seen before. 

“Morning,” she whispered, reaching out an arm to press against his thigh.At her back, Gil whined at the change in position.He hitched one heavy leg up, draped it over hers and pinned her down.A blunt nose pressed into her hair.Gil snuffled sadly and tightened the arm about her waist. 

A giggle bubbled up in Agatha’s chest.She made the mistake of glancing up at Tarvek.His eyes were wide with amusement, gleaming a rich coffee-brown in the morning light.He pressed a hand over his mouth, and the bed vibrated as he tried to smother his laughter.An _‘oh my god’_ emerged muffled but nevertheless understandable.

Agatha turned and pressed her face into the pillow as she shook with suppressed mirth.Gil whined again and nosed at the back of her neck as though trying to tell her to quiet down and go back to sleep.He was like some kind of large, snuggly octopus.Or perhaps a koala.Agatha laughed harder, sounds spilling out in spite of the pillow’s dampening effects.

“He’s a menace isn’t he?” Tarvek whispered conversationally.“You know, we were at Violetta’s for the holidays a few years back.The year we got that storm?Well, we were sleeping over on the living room floor, because we couldn’t drive back.And, Gil managed to migrate a good three meters and around a coffee table during the night, so I wake up like _this_ ,” he gestured to Agatha’s quandary.

“He’s like a heat-seeking missile or something,” Agatha wiggled vainly. 

“If you two don’t stop making fun of me,” Gil muttered into the space between the sheets and Agatha’s neck.“Then, I’m going to Tarvek’s bed and taking all the heat with me.You two can _freeze_ for all I care.”

Agatha was sure the expression on her face mirrored the one of amused delight on Tarvek’s.Biting down on her lip and not daring to look at him or even breathe lest she laugh, Agatha stroked Gil’s arm soothingly. 

It was a minute before she risked a slow inhalation.Lip and stomach muscles aching, Agatha became aware of a sharp discomfort and a growing need for the bathroom. 

“Actually,” she began, patting Gil’s hand. 

Grumbling like a child about to be denied a treat, he held on tighter.She winced at the pressure around her middle and took a firmer line. 

“No really, Gil.I need to get up.” 

Reluctantly, he rolled onto his side, freeing her.Immediately she missed the heat of his body, but matters were becoming urgent. 

As Tarvek stood to give her space, Agatha paused.It was _cold_ outside the blankets, and she wasn’t entirely sure how comfortable she felt parading around nude.Naked in bed was one thing, but…

“Oh,” Tarvek took one look at her and turned a lovely pink.“Clothes…” he trailed away looking around. 

But, Agatha had already spied the solution.Gil’s favorite hoodie lay folded on top of his dresser.Quick as wink, Agatha popped out of bed, snatched it up and tugged it on gratefully.It was fleecy warm and Gil was so tall that the sweatshirt fell to her thighs.

Tarvek turned around with his hands full.“I guess that’ll work instead,” he grinned, putting her clothes back down and coming up to slip his arms around her.It was heaven to press her face into his neck and hold him tight.It felt so far away from her anxieties of the previous day.

“I can’t believe I spent my entire flight home worried about how you two dating was going to change things,” she said, turning her head to rest against Tarvek’s collarbone.“I guess last night settled _that_ ,” — she laughed — “but really, the next time couldn’t you make it easier by just _telling_ me wha—” 

“Agatha.”The tone in Tarvek’s voice was unlike any she’d heard before.It make the back of her neck tingle and the hairs there stand on end.He moved them slowly apart and fixed her with the strangest look.

The bed creaked quietly as Gil sat up.“What do you mean we’re dating?” he asked, voice still gruff with sleep.

Tarvek’s red head shook from side-to-side.“We’re not together.Gil and I.”

She _gaped_ at them.

“I’m serious.We’re not dating.Where did you—?”

It wasn’t funny. 

“Of course you are,” she said flatly.“Zeetha texted me.She specifically said…”

“She _what?_ ” Gil burst out, shocked.

“When I was on my way home.She wanted to be sure I knew…” 

Agatha felt the certainty draining out of her as she watched Gil’s jaw drop.Eyes wide, he shook his head.

“But, you _have_ to be together,” she protested, starting to feel angry.How could they _not_ be? _Especially_ , given what had happened last night? 

“Otherwise why— _Why_ would you—?” Agatha burst out, gesturing to where Gil sat, bottom half still wrapped in sheets.

She looked swiftly back and forth between the man in her arms and the one on the bed. 

Gil flushed. 

Tarvek looked down. 

The sheer horror of it hit her like a punch to stomach.Agatha tore herself away from Tarvek with a jerk. 

“Why in the _world_ would you…if you weren’t…!?”

It had to be some kind of tasteless, horrible joke. 

But, there was an awful look on Tarvek’s face.Something almost _guilty_ that twitched away as soon as she tried to pin it down.He refused to meet her eyes, lips tight and gaze fixed instead on the edge of the bed.

“But, _you_ wanted to—” Gil began as though it were the simplest thing in the world. 

Agatha _gagged_. 

The mere idea that Gil would go along with a request like that…

“— And, I didn’t want to say —”

“ _Idiot!_ ”The word cracked out and Agatha found herself searching for another, invisible speaker before realizing the epithet had come from _Tarvek_. 

He was breathing hard, nostrils flared and mouth twisted.The look he directed at Gil was livid, more raw than any she had seen on his face.He took a quick step toward the other man gesturing sharply, perhaps to cut off his words… though for one horrifying moment Agatha thought Tarvek was going to hit Gil. 

“It _wasn’t_ like that,” Tarvek turned to her, voice heavy with emotion.“I _swear_ it wasn’t.Not for me.Not for Gil.We wouldn’t do that to you.Not _ever_. _Please_ —” 

Gil opened his mouth.Tarvek’s glare scorched him into silence.

But, the damage was done. 

“You… you kissed and… _everything_ ,” she whispered, appalled.

“That was—” Gil began, and a distant part of her was impressed that he’d found his voice under the weight of Tarvek’s rage.

“—unexpected,” Tarvek said tightly, just as Gil finished: “— new.” 

“ _Oh my god!_ This… _this_ was your first—The two of y—You haven’t… that is, you weren’t—”Words slipped through her mental fingers, refusing to be organized into coherent sentences.

Both men only stared at her, silent.

Agatha couldn’t take it in.The sheer magnitude of the situation threatened to overcome her.Her stomach rolled and her knees threatened to buckle.She reached out a hand and braced herself against the dresser. 

Up until a minute ago, she would have said the previous night was among the best of her life.Now she was faced with the appalling reality that everything she thought she’d understood about it — about where Gil and Tarvek stood with each other and where they stood with her — was wrong. 

It wasn’t only the embarrassment.Her astonishing presumption. 

It wasn’t only the disbelief.Her inability to see what could possibly have motivated Gil and Tarvek to go to bed with her, _together_. 

No, what horrified her was the very real prospect that this… this one night had broken something essential between them, some fundamental trust and understanding.

“Look,” Tarvek began cautiously. _“Much_ of last night was, as I said, _unexpected_.”He’d managed to compose himself again, but his posture was defensive.His expression was carefully neutral, yet there was a rigidity to his back and tilt to his chin that gave his emotional turmoil away.

“I’m sure Gil and I never imagined doing this kind of thing _together_ ,” he continued, but Gil broke in cutting Tarvek off urgently. 

“Uh… yeah.That was, um— _Definitely_ a first.But look Agatha, I—”He reached a beseeching hand out to her.

But, she couldn’t keep listening.A wave of nausea swept over her, and Agatha’s stomach heaved.She spun, groping blindly for the walls.

She only _just_ made it to the bathroom before her stomach rejected it’s contents.Kneeling — shaking and cold with sweat — she clutched the porcelain bowl as she retched. 

After a long moment, she fumbled for the flush. 

Then, Agatha sat feeling wetness coat her face as she wept and choked and heaved and _wept_.

<>

“Agatha.Agatha?”Steady hands sat her back. 

Gil’s face swam into view. 

“I need you to answer some questions for me.Can you sit up?”

_Gil in his doctor-mode._

“You threw up.How does your stomach feel now?” 

Agatha grimaced.

“Still queasy?”

A nod.

“Does anywhere else hurt?Headache?”

“My head.A little.”

“Are you hot?Cold?”Gil felt her face, her neck, her hands. 

His touch was gentle, but impersonal. 

Agatha buried her face in her hands.Tears leaked out.Down her cheeks, her palms.Soaking into the cuffs of Gil’s sweatshirt. 

“You don’t feel clammy,” Gil observed quietly.“I need you to look at me.”

Agatha shook her head.

Carefully but _inexorably_ his big hands pried hers from her face. 

“Close your eyes.”

A cup touched her lips.

She rinsed out her mouth.

A warm washcloth bathed her face. 

Agatha _remembered_.The wonder, the grinning embarrassment in his face…She shook as the tears fell faster. 

Tissues were pressed to her fingers.She buried her face in them, until she caught her breath.

“ _Zeetha_ ” 

Agatha forced the word out.Her jaw ached from clenching and cracked loudly as a yawn followed unexpectedly on the heels of speech. 

“Zeetha.I need to talk to Zeetha.”

“You want me to call her?Have her—” Gil paused his physician’s composure breaking.“Come pick you up?”His eyes were full of a depth of hurt that threatened to tear her open. 

Without a sound, Tarvek was there.He placed her phone in her lap with too-careful movements.Agatha could hardly look at him.His face was entirely closed, guarded and wary. 

She’d done that to him. She’d hurt him, confused him so deeply that he pushed his feelings away, taking refuge in emotionlessness.Agatha closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see. 

It did not help.

“If you want, my room is free,” he offered quietly. 

Numbly, Agatha nodded.Neither of them touched her as she got to her feet.The unnatural reserve cut like a knife. 

Blinking back a fresh tears, she made her way to Tarvek’s room.Her composure held just long enough for her to shut the door, before sinking to the floor with a sob.

<>

Agatha waited until she had herself once again under control before placing a video call to Zeetha.Her fingers shook as she waited for her friend to pick up. 

But when the video engaged and the woman’s face came into view, Agatha took one look at her and burst into tears. _It must be the jet lag_ , a small, rational part of her mind decided.She’d never cried so much in her life as she had in the last twenty four hours. 

She tried to pull herself together.On the other end of the call, Zeetha was on the verge of panic: _Where was she?What had happened?Had someone hurt her?_

Abruptly her friend went silent.“Hang on, but you’re at Gil and Tarvek’s…”

Agatha nodded and fumbled for the tissue box on Tarvek’s dresser.

“But, then what could have…?”Zeetha’s face clouded and Agatha hastened to cut her off before her friend could jump to conclusions.

“It’s all my fault,” she gulped.“I decided to stay here… I didn’t have keys and…”Zeetha nodded, brows still knit together.Agatha had stayed over with Gil and Tarvek often enough in the past.It wasn’t unusual. 

“We were getting ready for bed… just laying on Gil’s bed and talking.”Agatha dragged in a deep, shaking breath.“And, your message said they were together… I didn’t even think… and then we were kissing and it all just went from there.But, they’re _not_.They’re _not_ dating at all!And, I dragged them into some kind of… my _best friends_ …”

She was crying again in earnest now, tears rolling down her cheeks and dripping onto Gil’s sweatshirt.

“The worst thing is, they didn’t _want_ it!How could they have wanted _that!?_ And, I just—”

“Wai— wai— wait!” Zeetha cut across her, leaning in so close to the camera that her features became distorted.“Are you… are you saying you _slept_ with him?”

Eyes pinched tightly closed, Agatha nodded.

“Holy shit.Wa…Tarvek or my brother!?”

Agatha’s eyes snapped open.She stared dumbly into the phone.

The penny dropped. 

Zeetha’s hand flew up to her mouth, her brown eyes — so much like Gil’s — went wide with shock.“ _‘Them’…_ Oh my god, it was _both_ of them?” she whispered disbelieving.

Agatha snatched a tissue and pressed it to her mouth as another wave of nausea swept over her.Swallowing back bile, she forced herself to nod again.

“Oh holy shit,” Zeetha repeated into the stunned silence.For a long moment, they stared at one another saying nothing. 

Then with a little jerk, Zeetha seemed to come to her senses.“What do you mean _‘my message said they were together’_?Gil and Tarvek aren’t dating.”

 _That_ snapped Agatha out of her paralysis.“Your message just before my flight!”She wanted to scream.Fingers shaking, she flipped through her texts and sent a screen-shot. 

“This one!”

**Zeetha:  
** One more thing!  
Gil and Tarvek are   
together.  
Thought you would want to know.  
They’re really looking forward to seeing you.

Agatha watched, heart racing as Zeetha’s eyes unfocused, obviously reading the message. 

“Hold…But that’s not what I—Oh my god, _no!_ ”Zeetha looked up at her, stricken. 

Agatha’s blood went cold. 

“Sweetie, I don’t know how to say this.But, this isn’t the message I sent.Not all of it…” 

Her phone pinged.

Agatha was shaking all over.Trembling so hard her hands could hardly hold her phone, she scrolled down to the picture from Zeetha and stared hopelessly at the text bubbles.A series of incriminating little exclamation points with _‘message not delivered’_ stared back up at her. 

**Zeetha:  
** Hey, one more thing!  
Gil and Tarvek are   
**(** both going into lab today. **)** **!** **Message not delivered  
** **(** But they’ll meet us there **)** **!** **Message not delivered  
** together.  
Thought you would   
want to know.  
They’re really looking   
forward to seeing you.

The sound of another screen shot made her start.

**Zeetha:  
** Of course they are  
 **(** going to be there   
tonight. **)** **!** **Message not delivered  
** You’ve been gone four   
months, what did you   
think would happen?  
 **(** I’m glad you’re coming   
back **)** **!** **Message not delivered  
** **(** to save me from them! **)** **!** **Message not delivered  
** Gil’s been such a mopey   
pain missing you.   
Tarvek too.

Agatha closed her eyes.But, she could not expunge the vision from her memory.The evidence of her mistake.And the sheer magnitude of it.

“Oh, _Agatha…_ I’m so sorry.I didn’t even notice!”And, Zeetha looked truly miserable.“I mean, obviously I noticed that not all my texts sent, but I didn’t _realize_ …”She trailed off hopelessly. 

Then another bubble of memory surfaced.“Wait a minute.Was _this_ what you were talking about last night?” her friend asked urgently.“In the bathroom?About things changing?”

Numb, Agatha nodded. 

“Well shit, _”_ Zeetha summed up succinctly. 

_One little word,_ Agatha thought.One little word in the wrong place and she had upended their lives. 

One word.

And a message she’d _wanted_ to read.

She felt sick. 

“Do you need me to come and get you?I can come and get you.Right now.You can stay with me, just the two of us.We can talk. _Whatever_ you need.”

A part of her wanted that.To run away.Go with Zeetha.Talk this out. _Figure_ this out.

But, she knew she couldn’t.

Agatha shook her head.

They stared at each other, caught in the awfulness of the situation until, “If it’s not too awkward…” Zeetha started.Then she sighed, a disbelieving little sound.“Who am I kidding.This is definitely going to be awkward.But, what happened?”

It was humiliating. 

But, Agatha gritted her teeth and explained: 

Going back to Gil and Tarvek’s.Pajamas and tea.Cuddling and talking.Gil inviting her to lie down.Tarvek saying she was _‘never in the way’_.Being warm and tired and happy.Wanting to kiss Tarvek.Doing it.Kissing Gil, too.

Zeetha’s face grew steadily more perturbed.Her nose wrinkled, and she was giving Agatha an odd sort of side-long look as though confused but definitely not about to ask questions.Another time Agatha might have been embarrassed about making her friend listen to intimate details that involved her own _brother_.But, she didn’t have much room left for _more_ mortification. 

Still Agatha tried to choose her words carefully, to lay out the details with clinical dispassion:

How it had been fun.They’d laughed.How she’d wanted more.Thought they did, too.About cold hands.And, how Gil had kissed Tarvek before bundling them all into bed.

At that, Zeetha held up a hand.“Wait, _they…_ ” — she tapped her first fingers together apparently searching for the right words — “… with each other?”

That’s what had confused Agatha, too. 

She was well aware that people kissed for the fun of it, because they enjoyed kissing not because it meant anything more.Yet, it hadn’t felt that way last night.Her face in its tiny square on her screen, frowned.

“It was just kissing, not anything else…” Agatha trailed away.Unbidden, images of two pairs of hands on her as she rode Tarvek and as she cradled Gil between her knees burst into her mind.“I mean it was all three of us together, for ah… everything.” 

That hardly reflected the experience, the astonishing degree to which both men had worked in concert, not in competition.It was part of what had made it so easy to believe that they _were_ together.Together and inviting her in.

Zeetha’s brows were raised nearly to her hairline. 

“Honestly, if you weren’t so clearly upset by all this, I’d be congratulating you on finding a solution to this dance you three have been doing for… well, as long as I’ve known you!”She shook her head and laughed humorlessly.

“So, you’re saying that you got into all this because you thought Gil and Tarvek were together.And, they didn’t protest, even though they’re not actually dating, to any part of this little” — she waved her hand — “ _thing_ you got into!?”

Agatha glared at the other woman, “Zeetha!That’s not the point!The point is… is… I would _never_ have suggested this if I didn’t think it was something they wanted!”

“Oh sweetie, I know you wouldn’t,” Zeetha said apologetic and comforting at once.“And, I think Gil and Tarvek know you well enough to know you would never do something to deliberately hurt them.Maybe this is…Oh, I don’t know…”She tipped her head back, blowing her bangs out of her face.

“Look, Gil or Tarvek could have said _‘no’_ at any point.They didn’t.Now, maybe that was just… taking what was offered in the moment.But, I have a hard time seeing them” — Zeetha coughed pointedly — “actually getting physically involved with _each other_ if they weren’t even a little interested.” 

She tugged absentmindedly on a strand of emerald hair, thinking hard. 

“Tarvek and my brother have always been close.Not that I think guys don’t have close friends.But, plenty of people have thought they were together.Maybe they’ve always been a little inclined in that direction, and last night just provided the push?”

It was along the lines of what Agatha had reasoned yesterday, and she said as much. 

“I was just imagining that it was my being away that made them realize.” 

She worried one side of her bottom lip between her teeth.The trouble was that whatever Gil and Tarvek were thinking or feeling, she’d still gotten the three of them into a mess.Even if by some miracle they were able to work it out, nothing would justify her actions.

Agatha sighed.In spite of everything, she _was_ starting to feel a little steadier.What Zeetha said made sense. They may not have discussed matters, but Gil or Tarvek could easily have said ‘no’ or protested or left… but they hadn’t.They hadn’t seemed upset by what had transpired either. _Far from it_ , she reflected thinking about some of the last night’s more explicit scenes. 

Maybe their kissing _had_ just been an experiment.The kind of thing you try just to see if you like it.But, she’d actually believed it, _believed_ they were together, the entire time.Close was one thing.Going to bed with the same partner just as friends was another.

“I just don’t want to go thinking that not talking to them — not actually asking what had happened or how they felt or how we were going to fit together now — was okay.It’s _not_.”

“No, it isn’t,” Zeetha agreed, face sober.“But, those boys helped create this mess.It’s not all on you.”

Agatha swallowed hard and nodded.

“At least you were all idiots together?”The corner of Zeetha’s mouth quirked in a sad, sympathetic little smile. 

Agatha’s laugh was involuntary.A harsh, surprised release that nevertheless helped the knot in her stomach loosen another degree.She buried her face in her hands and drew in a shuddering breath.

“Yeah, that’s us,” she said into her palms.

Zeetha stayed quiet, and Agatha appreciated the space to think.

“I don’t know what to do now, though,” she said finally, sitting up straighter.

Expression gentle, Zeetha shook her head.“Of course you do, sweetie.You just have to woman up, go out there and do it.”

The idea made Agatha’s stomach clench again, but Zeetha was right.She _did_ know what she needed to.It was a matter of getting herself together and _doing it_.

“I need to talk with them.Now or this morning, if they’ll do it.”

Her friend inclined her head in assent. 

“Hey, look.The three of you have something… precious.In the end, all of you want this to work.Whatever else you are to each other, you’re _important_.Get out there and fight for what’s important to you.”

Agatha pressed her lips together, overcome.It wasn’t just Zeetha’s confidence in them and in _her_.It was the way she cut to the heart of things.Gil and Tarvek _were_ important.She’d made a mistake, a bad one.But, Agatha wasn’t about to let that force them apart.Not if she could help it.

“Thanks.”She wiped her eyes.“For—”

Zeetha smiled.A small smile, but genuine and unforced.“Always.Um… let me know how it goes?”

“Yeah.Yeah, I will.”

Agatha ended the call and flopped back down onto the floor. 

“I’m not going to let this _mess_ ruin the best damn thing in my life,” she told Tarvek’s room at large.

<>

Rather than facing her best friends a tear-stained, half-naked mess, Agatha slipped back to the bathroom and into the shower. 

It felt good to get clean, even if the evidence of last night’s activities on her body left her feeling a confused mix of stimulated and miserable.Unsurprisingly, she had tiny red blooms on her hips and her neck.She was tender too, she discovered, as she washed carefully between her legs.Rather than dissect her feelings about that, Agatha rushed through the rest of her shower. 

She dried hurriedly and slipped back into Gil’s sweatshirt then bent to wrap her hair up in the towel.Straightening, Agatha locked gazes with her reflection in the mirror.

Normally bright green, her eyes looked dull with worry and red-rimmed from crying.The corners of her mouth tugged down.She tried for a smile, but it refused to remain in place.She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat.Squeezing her eyes closed, Agatha gripped her feelings _hard_.This wouldn’t do.She owed her friends — she owed _herself_ — better than being a disaster.Gil and Tarvek were worried and upset, too. 

They had to fix this.And, it had been her mistake to start, so _she_ had to begin. 

Lifting her chin, Agatha met her own eyes once more in the mirror.Grimly she set her shoulders.

Last night had been just about the best damn night of her life.It might all have been precipitated by a misunderstanding, but she damn well hadn’t misunderstood the laughs or the pleasure or the gentle touches. 

There was something there, between them. 

Always had been. 

Now that the barriers were down, they just had to decide what to do.

<>

Agatha found her resolve tested almost immediately.Not wanting to have this conversation while half-naked and wearing only Gil’s sweatshirt, she returned to his room for her clothes.She wasn’t prepared to find Gil himself standing there, still bare chested and absurdly gorgeous, apparently in the process of finding a shirt. 

“Oh!”The exclamation slipped out before Agatha could think to stop it.Think to slip away and give him a moment of privacy.

Gil spun, startled, and dropped the shirt.He took an aborted step toward her, face stricken and arm outstretched, then halted. 

“Agatha, are you okay?” he asked low and urgently.“Well, I guess you’re not okay.It’s just—Are you… are you leaving? _Please_ , we —”Gil broke off painfully, evidently unwilling or unable to say more.He stood, maintaining that awful distance, all the usual assumptions and boundaries of their comfortable friendship in pieces at their feet.

Agatha steeled herself against the wave of pain.“I’m… feeling a little better,” she replied carefully.“And, no.I’m not leaving.Not unless you want me to,” she acknowledged.

He shook his head vehemently.

“We um… we should talk.The three of us.” 

Gil nodded, although he did not appear reassured.It was nearly unbearable.The look on his face, the unhappiness there.She wanted so badly to wipe it away.To replace the pain with his smile. 

“Oh, _Gil_.”Agatha went to him and stopped just short of wrapping her arms around him. 

“Is it?Can I…?”

The words didn’t have time to leave her lips before Gil’s arms closed around her.He didn’t say a word, only held her as close as he could.The towel around her hair slipped, but neither of them paid it any mind.All Gil’s emotions — all the things he couldn’t say — were in the slide of his arms, his hands on her back and her neck, his nose pressed to her cheek.

At long last, she pulled away.Her skin ached sharply from the loss of his touch.The towel wobbled further with her motion and she was obliged to tug it off. 

“I’ll be—Or… well, just give me a minute?” she said.

“We’re um… in the kitchen,” he replied awkwardly. Then Gil gathered up his fallen shirt and made his way out, closing the door quietly between them.

It took only a moment to slip back into her clothes.She tugged Gil’s sweatpants back on, and after a moment’s consideration the sweatshirt, too.She wished it was Tarvek’s, so she could feel them both on her skin. 

Fighting back sadness, Agatha boxed that feeling up and set it aside. 

Out in the hall, she stopped for a moment to listen.Quiet voices came from the kitchen, and with them a thread of warm caramel scent laced with apple, vanilla and spices.A few feet further, Agatha paused under the arch leading to the living room.On the far side, both men could be seen in the kitchen. 

It took her a beat to make sense of the scene.Gil stood at the counter, a bowl of batter in one hand, evidently making waffles if the sizzle of hot metal was any indication.Beside him, Tarvek stirred something on the stove with one hand while cupping a mug in the other. 

The scene was outrageous in its domesticity, in its utter ordinariness, and completely at odds with her confusion and distress.She halted, nonplussed.

The sight could have been mistaken for a normal Sunday.Or, perhaps some galant effort at a morning-after brunch.

Across the room Gil poured out batter and set a timer.He leaned over to direct a low comment to Tarvek. ****

Whatever he said made Tarvek turn to him, whipping around so fast that his hair was a crimson streak.Agatha heard the clack of his cup striking the counter too hard.She started and took a step forward in an automatic response to the anger in the lines of Tarvek’s back.

 _“Gil, that’s”_ he began loudly, before lowering his voice.Agatha stilled and strained, but she couldn’t make out any more of the flood of words that poured forth. 

Desperate to understand but loathe to interrupt, she tried to read Tarvek’s meaning from Gil’s face.She thought she could see his expression evolve from surprise to disagreement.His mouth opened as if to protest.Yet, Gil got no chance to object.Instead Tarvek turned away, going back to his task.But, not before Agatha had seen the corners of his mouth turned sharply down. 

For a fraction of a second she was sure Tarvek’s eyes had flicked to the hall and seen her there.

Gil remained briefly shocked into immobility, then he shed his paralysis and stepped into Tarvek’s space.It was like the previous night, seeing the hesitation in his movements, Agatha thought breathlessly as she watched him stroke Tarvek’s long bangs out of his face and tuck them behind an ear. 

Tarvek’s shoulders hunched fractionally at the touch, and Agatha flinched in sympathy.She expected Gil to pull away at the rebuff.Instead he turned the other man gently by the shoulders and kissed him full on the mouth. 

It was a brief thing.And yet it drained all hesitation, all the fight out of Tarvek.He sagged into Gil’s hold and pressed his face into his shoulder as Gil lifted one hand up to cradle his neck.

Agatha felt she was on the brink of a asphyxiation.It was exquisitely painful to stand unknowing and uncertain on the sidelines.She didn’t know what she’d expected to find when Gil had said they were _‘in the kitchen’_.Gil and Tarvek waiting in pained or sullen silence perhaps.Two remote figures standing at opposite ends of the room.But, no. 

And, it wasn’t that there was no tension.The tension was crystal clear.No, it was the certain knowledge that something intimate and _important_ was happening here.Something that, for all their sakes, she dared not interrupt.

Agatha’s own breathing was deafening in the hush.Tarvek eased them apart.His mouth moved, speaking more indecipherable words.Whatever he’d said, Agatha did not expect Gil’s sudden bark of laughter nor the flashing smile that lit his face. 

Even less did she anticipated Tarvek stepping Gil back to press him against the counter before taking his face in both hands, pulling him close and kissing him.

<>

A piercing _‘beep’ing’_ shattered the peace. 

All three of them jumped. 

Gil spun to rescue his waffle from the iron.A plume of steam puffed out of the machine to surround Gil’s head as he levered the piping hot cake out and onto a plate. 

From across the room, Tarvek’s eyes found hers.Two mariners seeking their north stars.

Agatha didn’t need words for what she saw in his face, for the understanding that passed between them.

He opened his arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That Chapter Summary was misleading you say? Why, whatever do you mean? >:D
> 
> All joking aside, this may leave some of you feeling discombobulated. I’m sorry if that’s the case. There is a lot of emotion packed into this chapter. 
> 
> The fundamental miscommunication in this piece is inspired by the real experiences of a friend. Their story touched me very deeply. It seemed a good fit for our rather tangled OT3. After all, relationship ‘highs’ are higher and ‘lows’ are lower with those you love.
> 
> On a lighter note, several of the amusing parts of the story (dubious entrees, cigars, mathematics culture, etc) were also inspired by real experiences and real places.
> 
> I had a helluva lotta fun trying to fit in as many canon parallels, quotations and references as I reasonably could. I hope you were similarly entertained by them.
> 
> Thanks so much for letting me share this with you. If you enjoyed it, please make my day by leaving comments/kudos. <3


	7. Explanations & Spoilers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It has been kindly brought to my attention that some folks might appreciate a fuller description of difficult material in fiction pieces such as this one. 
> 
> This chapter explains the tags and warnings, but is necessarily full of spoilers and head canons — both written and unwritten — for the story. 
> 
> You do not need to read this to understand the story. This is primarily for folks who’d like to know what they are getting into. However, if you’d like to know more of the head-canons and behind-the-scenes, then by all means read on.
> 
> Last chance to turn away! 
> 
> So, about all those tags and warnings…
> 
> Descriptions include (1) explanation of the references to child abuse and some final comments, (2) clarifications on sexual interactions, (3) communication issues, (4) orientations and (5) emotional hurt/comfort.
> 
> Pick your poison wisely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tags discussed in this "chapter" will update as the main story does.

**Tags Explained**

**CHILD ABUSE:** The prologue, The Priors, shows Tarvek having a nightmare about his abusive family environment growing up.To my mind, this isn’t much different from what’s described, shown and implied in canon, but for transparency:  
His sister, Anevka, murders their mother and father.Her reasons or any justification are not included.Tarvek witnesses these murders.Tarvek is also present when Anevka dies.Her cause of death is not explained.These deaths are the fodder for his nightmares.   
Gil hears Tarvek crying out in his nightmares about these events and asks Violetta about them.We see a brief description of the above in her words as Gil remembers them.  
A key part of Tarvek’s trauma around these deaths is his relationship with Anevka.They were — by all accounts — devoted to one another.Anevka was the only member of Tarvek’s immediate family who loved him and showed him any affection.    
I head canon that Anevka was deeply twisted by their parents, but did truly love and adore her brother.That love is an important part of Tarvek’s ability to form any close relationships at all.  
Physical abuse of Tarvek by family members is implied.  
The rest is left up to your imagination.

 **SEX:** Put clinically, sex shown in The Test has kissing (all three in pairs), manual stimulation (G -> A, T ->A), oral sex (A -> T, A -> G) and PIV penetrative sex (A -> T, G -> A).Arrows are in case you are sensitive to topping/bottoming dynamics.However, I did not include or imply any Dom/sub.    
As far as safe sex practices, this sex is… not safe.In my mind, Agatha uses hormonal/chemical pregnancy prevention.Choose whatever method you like to imagine.But, there is no mention of this fact in the work nor a discussion of other safe sex practices.

 **COMMUNICATION ISSUES:** This bit, shown in The Test, is less dubious consent than a spectacular miscommunication.  
 **Agatha** thinks Gil and Tarvek are dating.And, she thinks they’re including her in their bedroom activities, because they’ve always done things as a trio.It’s simultaneously sweet that she doesn’t even consider that Gil and Tarvek adding her might be unusual and an enormous assumption to make.  
 **Tarvek** knows better than to go to bed with his friends with hardly a word.He really does.And, he chooses to go along with the moment and not raise questions, because he wants the intimacy that’s being offered too badly.He and Gil have an unspoken, gentleman’s agreement not to pursue a romantic relationship with Agatha.He _knows_ going to bed with them both might cost the three their friendship.He does it anyway.It is a damn terrible decision on his part.  
 **Gil** is confused as f**k.He gets carried along in the moment by Agatha and Tarvek.That’s the power of his feelings for Agatha… and, how close he is to Tarvek.Sure, he never expected to end up in bed with his best friends, but it’s not strange enough to stop him.Along the way — but unwritten/explained in the story — he experiences feelings he didn’t anticipate.Seeing Tarvek in a romantic light is a revelation.But, not a bad one.Suffice it to say, Gil’s going to need some time to sort through this mess.

 **ORIENTATIONS:** These are my head canons.You don’t have to agree, but this is my premise.  
 **Agatha** is attracted to men.Anything else you want to think is up to you.  
 **Tarvek** is bisexual or perhaps better put, he doesn’t have a preference.He’s experienced attraction to men and women, but prefers to think of himself as attracted to certain people — not particular genders or bodies.  
 **Gil** is attracted to women… and Tarvek.He’s pretty confused about that bit.He didn’t realize you could be ‘straight, plus your best friend.’But, that’s evidently what happening. 

**EMOTIONAL HURT/COMFORT:** The fallout of this miscommunication around relationships and sex, shown in The Proof, is meant to be quite, even viscerally, unpleasant.  
When **Agatha** realizes the magnitude of her mistake, she is horrified…so much so that she vomits at the realization.It is a sharp and painful lesson. In the immediate aftermath of the reveal, this is all-consuming. It takes some time - and talking it out with Zeetha - to realize that there was still so much good in their relationship and enough trust for them to sort this out.  
 **Tarvek** is cold and withdrawn immediately afterward.But, not for the reasons Agatha thinks.He’s upset with himself for giving in to a moment’s pleasure, rather than taking care of his relationships.I love Tarvek.But in this depiction, he’s acts the damn fool and _should_ be angry with himself.  
 **Gil** may be confused, but this was his revelation moment.Gil hates to see his best friends upset, but he himself is far more _bewildered_ than upset.When he and Tarvek talk — unseen/unwritten — it’s Gil’s confession that he enjoyed going to bed with _both_ Agatha and Tarvek that smooths the way for the hopeful ending.

Though this story has a “happy” ending, it does because I wrote it that way… not because this is how things turn out in real life.

 **Final Comments:  
** If any of this doesn’t suit your tastes, I invite you to (a) skip the pieces that make you uncomfortable or (b) choose another fic and avoid this one entirely.I promise I won’t be offended.  
If you think I’ve missed anything in the description here, kindly draw my attention to the omission in the comments.Your gentleness in critique is _always_ appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please subscribe and shout at me in the comments if you're enjoying this. <3


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